I Was A Teenage Ninja
by SKJC
Summary: AU: Before Rocky, Adam and Aisha become Rangers, they're Wind Ninja Academy students. Bonus appearances by Chad Lee and child!Cam. Adamcentric. SLASH, AdamChad, later AdamRocky. OMG, completed! o.o
1. The Beginning

**Notes **- So, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha were intro'd through a ninja competition, which gave me this idea. I thought I had read this somewhere, but it was actually a really old fic I had started. xD;

Timeline details:

- This is the fall of 1993, and the trio is about 14 and would be high school freshmen - I'm assuming they move to Angel Grove during their sophomore year.

- The original MMPR team is about to start their tenure as Rangers.

- Sensei Watanabe has just become the head of the Wind Ninja Academy - I'm assuming that he didn't become head teacher immediately upon his own graduation from the school.

- Cam is about 10 years old and living at the school (The other NS rangers are all really young and hence not in the story). If I write him I'll try to refrain from turning him into Justin. o-o;

**Disclaimer** - Uh, none of the Power Rangers belong to me. Saban, Disney, whoever - it's their sandbox, I just play here. I haven't written fanfic in 5 or 6 years, and never PR fic, so sorry if it's horrible. . The ninja instructors are going to be my horrid OCs.. I hate OCs... . ;;

I'm also posting this on FFN.. 'cause, uh, that's where bad fanfic goes to die.

**Chapter 1** - In Which Rocky Oversleeps, Adam Lacks Confidence, and Aisha Yells A Lot.

"Come on, you losers, we're gonna be late!" Aisha banged on the closed doors to the guest room. 'I knew it was a bad idea for us to have a sleepover before something THIS important,' she thought. "Your alarm's been going off for ten minutes!"

The door opened, and Adam stood there, disheveled with dark circles under his eyes. "It can't be morning already," he mumbled.

"I told you to go to sleep early, but you knuckleheads probably told ghost stories all night or something, didn't you?" Aisha accused.

"It's not my fault Rocko's used to his obnoxious kid sisters running around!" Adam protested, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He poked his head back into the room to see if their friend was in the process of shutting off that alarm or not. "Rocky, wake up!" No response came from the lump of covers on the cot at the foot of the bed, the alarm still blaring some god-awful morning radio.

Aisha sighed. "Come on. Let's get him. Mom's already making breakfast and Dad wants to put our stuff in the van!" Her parents had offered to drive the three of them to their new school and see them off - Rocky's newest little sister had just been born, and both of Adam's parents were pretty skeptical of this ninja academy nonsense from the get-go - it had taken some creative reasoning on the part of the three teens to get their permission for him to go, but getting a ride halfway up the California coast wasn't in the cards. So, it all worked out well on paper. 'But,' Aisha thought wryly, 'I should have figured these guys would make us late!'

20 minutes later...

"So, I take it you're all excited to be chosen as Wind Ninja students?" Aisha's dad asked the three young teens, who were eating breakfast faster than usual - he noticed his petulant daughter shooting her friends dirty looks. They nodded enthusiastically.

"It's gonna be super cool," Rocky said with his mouth full, reaching for a glass of milk. "Remember when the teachers did their demo at that conference? And nobody knew they were, like, REAL ninjas? It was like they were superhuman or something!!"

Adam laughed nervously. "Seriously.. If I knew they were gonna be watching our matches I'd have been really nervous. I still dunno why WE caught their attention!" He looked down into his cereal, poking at it with a spoon.

Aisha rolled her eyes. "Guys, it's cause we kicked butt, of course!" She reached across the table to high-five Rocky, who almost knocked over his plate in the process.

"Maybe Rocky will be less of a klutz after real ninja training!" Adam remarked, poking his friend in the ribs. A short scuffle ensued, leaving the dining room table a mess of spilled cereal. Aisha's father watched in amusement, having known his daughter's friends long enough to expect that kind of thing.

"Okay, guys," Aisha's mom said, coming into the dining room. "You all need to get going or you won't get to Blue Bay Harbor by the check-in time."

Aisha shot Rocky another dirty look. "Hey, so not my fault," he complained. "It's really far, and I only overslept like, a half-hour!"

The parents in the room looked at each other and shook their heads, thinking the same thing - good luck to the teachers who get these kids.

----

"How much longer 'til we get there?" Rocky bounced in his seat. This was at least the fourth time in the two hour drive he had felt the need to ask.

Adam looked up from the ninja history book he was reading. "Didn't we tell you to go before we left?" He asked.

"Man, I'm just bored," Rocky complained. "You guys are way too patient."

Aisha looked at her watch. "We've got another hour. Dad, are we gonna be there by then?"

Mr. Campbell looked up in the rearview mirror. "Sure, kiddo. Actually, Rocky will be happy to hear we're almost there. The gathering spot for new students is actually just outside of town, so we're pretty close."

"All right!" Rocky exclaimed, looking out the window like he expected signs reading 'secret ninja school, 2 miles' on the roadside.

Adam shook his head and went back to reading. This was gonna be a long school year. He hoped his friends didn't drive him insane. It was awesome to get picked for the ninja academies that most people thought were just a legend, if they'd even heard of them at all.. And especially at our age, he thought.

The trio would have been freshmen in high school that fall if not for the regional martial arts conference the previous spring, where they'd been approached by sensei Kanoi Watanabe, who introduced himself as the new head teacher of the Wind Ninja Academy, and invited them to become novice students. Adam still couldn't believe it.

'After all,' he wondered, 'we didn't even win our last match. What could have been that great about us?' His friends' enthusiasm had rubbed off on him over the past few months, as they continued to train together, as they introduced sensei Watanabe and the other Wind Ninja teachers to their parents to explain the rather unlikely circumstances, as his friends devised a plan to talk his especially reluctant parents into letting him go, but he still wasn't entirely sure why he should be going in the first place.

Aisha's voice brought him out of his thoughts abruptly. "We're here, guys!" She shouted, jumping up from her seat and throwing the door open before her father had shut off the ignition to the van. Adam looked out the window - they were at a rest stop by the woods. He thought he recalled something about a hike through the forest.

As they filed out of the van, duffel bags and backpacks gathered, two ninjas appeared from the forest. "Here for training?" one of them inquired in a light tone, pulling off her hood to reveal shoulder length black hair. The other removed his hood as well, but said nothing, the red trim on his uniform less of a contrast on the black leather than the other ninja's blue coloring.

"Yeah!" Rocky exclaimed, jumping up. "I'm Rocky DeSantos! We got second place in the teams competition at the regionals last spring down in Stone Canyon!"

The ninja in red didn't look especially amused. "What're your names?" he asked, turning to Adam and Aisha. "Without bragging about competition titles you didn't win, if you could."

"Aisha Campbell!" Aisha exclaimed, standing up straight, looking surprised. Her father stood against the van, watching with an amused expression on his face.

"Adam Park," Adam mumbled, looking intently at his sneakers. The two ninjas looked him up and down, looked over his friends, and turned to Aisha's father.

"We'll take them from here, sir," the woman in the blue-trimmed uniform said. "It's a bit of a ... hike to where we're going." She winked, gesturing at the three kids. "Starts the teaching of ninja discipline, and not packing more stuff than you can carry."

Mr. Campbell chuckled. "Well, have at it then." He waved to his daughter and her friends as they picked up their stuff and departed, following the ninjas into the woods.

As he left for the long drive back to Stone Canyon, he couldn't help but wonder after dropping his daughter and her friends off for their first year of secret ninja school, if his life was strange enough yet.

--

So, uh - don't take this too awfully seriously. I'm not. It's about as serious as the TMNT/NS crossover that's floating around my head, it's just masquerading as a potentially serious fic right now. xD; Ninja Storm just inspires me to write weird, weird stuff.

Oh, and I really am not a huge Aisha fan. So if I write her very badly, I'm sorry.. Adam is my favorite of the trio, so I admit right now I'm gonna concentrate on him a little heavily. My bad... All my characterization is probably heavily influenced by fanon.


	2. No Talking Hats Here!

**Notes **- Yes, it is a young Chad from Lightspeed Rescue. Affinity for water and one of the better martial artists? I can work with that. xD He's about 18 here, and it's about 7 years before Lightspeed - they were all in their 20s so I don't think I need to rape time much. o.O

I'm also taking liberties with how ninjas are likely assigned their elements.. Canon evidence is that it's probably some kind of training process rather than an evaluation.

**Chapter 2** - In Which Adam Ends Up With A Bunch Of Girls

"In the traditions of the Wind Ninja Academy, we will welcome our new students with a demonstration of our techniques." Sensei Watanabe walked the ranks of ninja students lined in the courtyard, a row of teachers off to one side, searching for a student suitable for the task. He tapped one of the water ninja students, a Korean boy in his late teens whose great affinity for his element helped him develop impressive skills.

Rocky, Adam, and Aisha stood with the other novice students, dressed in gray, standing out from the established students in their black training uniforms. Rocky tried his best not to fidget too much.

The ninja in his blue-accented uniform took the platform in front of the crowd of students. As he proceeded to demonstrate a complex routine of kicks, punches, tumbling, and swordwork, the student body watched in awe, and the teachers looked on, approval showing on many of their faces. When he finished, he stood to face the other students and bowed respectfully before re-taking his place among the ranks.

Adam and Rocky gaped at each other. Sensei Watanabe's voice cut across the courtyard as he stepped back up. "Thank you, Mr. Lee, for that demonstration. Everyone, Mr. Lee is one of our senior water ninja students."

"You don't say?" Rocky stage-whispered to Adam, who was standing next to him. "That guy was awesome!" Adam nodded but didn't say anything.

"All returning students, you are dismissed for your regularly scheduled training," Sensei Watanabe announced. "Novice students, please remain here for testing for your assignments to your elemental classes."

"Yes, sensei!" The students chorused, bowing and scattering, leaving the small and confused class of novices to re-form the significantly smaller rows.

The two ninjas who had escorted the trio to the Academy the day before stepped forward. "I'm Marissa Lehaney," the woman in blue introduced herself, "and my silent friend here is Aiden Fields." She gestured to the man next to her, who nodded briefly, his gaze sweeping over the students. "Most of you guys aready met us - we're the head instructors of the water and air ninjas, respectively, and it's our job to welcome new students, and test you into your element classes!"

"Excuse me, instructors," Sensei Watanabe cut in, "but aren't we missing a ninja?"

"Well, that is.." Marissa began, but her excuse was cut off before she had a chance to finish.

"Right here, sensei!" A young man, not much older than the water ninja who'd done the demonstration, tore through the courtyard, his yellow-trimmed uniform askew, one boot untied, and the scabbard for his ninja sword thrown haphazardly over one shoulder. "Sorry, uh, I was hanging out with Cam. He was showing me this cool new thing on his computer called the interweb, or something. You got a smart kid, sensei!" The guy grinned, taking his place with the other instructors, and addressed the class of students. "I'm Mason Boyd, I head up the instruction of earth ninjas! I'm gonna try and not be late much this year," he joked, drawing nervous laughter from the ranks. "I would have been around yesterday but I had some special training to do, so I missed everybody.. Sorry about that!"

Sensei Watanabe shook his head. Mason had been a student only a few years prior, and while he was a skilled ninja and a great teacher, Kanoi sometimes wondered if the young man would ever grow up. He willingly socialized with Kanoi's 10 year old son, for heaven's sake, and even the young boy was often exasperated by Mason's lack of attention span. "All right, then. Now that you are all present, please begin the evaluations. Students, you will each be called individually to perform a routine which you feel best exhibits your skills. I trust you have all prepared as necessary?"

The novices were silent, but nodding heads were the common response.

"Good. After that, the instructors will pair you off for sparring matches to contrast your skills against one another. You may be asked to exhibit certain common standard forms, as well. If you do not understand instructions you are given please ask for clarification. Although your numbers are few, I'm sure the instructors would all like to at least show up at their regular classes today." Sensei Watanabe looked to his fellow teachers, who nodded in agreement.

"Let's get on with it," Aiden announced. "Our head teacher is correct, some of us have other things to do."

--

Several hours later, the small group of exhausted novice students were dismissed, with the promise of their elemental assignments at the evening meal, and sent on a run around the grounds - presumably to get them out of the teachers' way.

"So, is this seriously not as fun as I thought, or what?" Rocky griped, stopping to lean against a tree and adjust the ties on his uniform.

"Quit complaining, Rocko," Adam spoke up. "You were the one who was all gung-ho about this anyway, and it's only the first actual day of training."

"Hey, 'Sha was excited too!" Rocky protested. "Besides, this isn't REAL ninja training, we're just running around in a big circle!"

"Yeah, but I'm not mouthing off about it," Aisha laughed. "Besides, it's not that bad. You ran track back in junior high, so what's so awful about this?"

"Yeah!" Adam agreed. "Besides, we'll get back, and hopefully they assigned us elements - if we're good enough - and then we can start 'real training.'" He mimicked Rocky's emphasis on 'real' and made quote marks with his fingers.

"Not a lot of people stay novice rank past the initial evaluations," Aisha mused thoughtfully. "I was talking to some of the older students last night. All of us are already pretty experienced. I'm pretty sure we're good enough."

"I hope so," Adam sighed. "The last thing I want is to be the only novice out of our year, or something." Rocky threw his arm around his friend's shoulders.

"Man, don't worry about it!" He exclaimed. "You won more of those rounds than I did. And you totally rocked your skills demo!" He nodded enthusiastically. "Besides, there's only like, ten other novices besides us. You can't be the worst one!"

"Way to be comforting, Rocko," Aisha interrupted. "Anyway, we should go. We're gonna get busted for just standing around."

--

"Attention, Wind Ninja students!" Sensei Watanabe's voice echoed through the dining tent. All the students turned their attention away from their meals and to the teachers' table, where the three lead elemental instructors and their head teacher stood. "Novice students' elemental assignments will now be announced."

Aiden stepped forward. "New students of the element of air. Mark Newton, Rocky Desantos, Shawn Rourke."

Mason continued, "Okay, new earth ninja students! Danny Sebastian, Cynthia Ackerman, Derek Winters, Allen Chang, and Aisha Campbell. Welcome to the club, you guys!" He laughed. "Lots of you tested into our element this year!"

"And last but not least, this year's new class of water ninjas will be Ellen Holcombe, Brooke Parker, Adam Park, and Mackenzie Owens." Marissa announced. "Congratulations to all of you and best of luck in your training here at the Wind Ninja Academy!"

The students applauded their new classmates, most of whom seemed thrilled at their new status. Adam was the only new student who looked less than happy, and Rocky picked up on it immediately.

"What's up, man?" He asked, poking Adam in the shoulder. "'Sha was right, we got our elements!"

"Yeah, but..." Adam sighed. "Notice all the other water ninjas this year are girls?"

"Hey! What's wrong with girls?!" Aisha demanded. "And anyway, there's some other guys in the water element - that Chad Lee who did the demo this morning!"

"Yeah, he was pretty good!" Rocky chimed in. "Besides, there's girls in all the elements! Water just has the most, that doesn't mean anything. And hey, that just means you get to train with all the cute chicks!"

Adam just poked the food on his plate. Somehow, he had figured something like this was gonna happen.

--

I love Adam but we all know he's gonna end up driving a van zord in Turbo, so we may as well start the self-esteem issues early. :D What it is about torturing favorite characters that's so much fun?


	3. The Trend Continues

**Notes **- Uh, so, I really have no idea where this is going. The characters haven't told me yet. oo

**Chapter 3** - In Which Cam Is Already Too Smart For His Own Good

"Buddy! Buddy, wake up!" Adam looked over the side of his bunk, rubbing his eyes, to find his best friend staring at him expectantly.

"Uhhh... What?" He managed, looking around. The dormitory was almost empty - most of the other students had already gone to sunrise meditation. Adam wondered why he had slept late, and why Rocky of all people was waking him up.

"Man, did you do that essay we had to write for Ninja History?" Rocky asked. "Can you, like, help me with mine or something?"

"Rocko, if I do your homework, the teachers WILL figure it out." Adam sighed, climbing out of bed and reaching for his uniform. "And why did you wait until today if you need help with it?"

"I don't want you to DO IT," Rocky protested feebly. "Just help me! C'mon, you knew more about all this stuff even before this year anyway, right?" He grinned sheepishly. "Besides, I was too busy training to do stuff like read old scrolls in the library! I didn't even remember we had an assignment until I heard that nerdy chick Mackie or whatever her name is talking about it at breakfast just now."

"It's Mackenzie," Adam corrected, "and she's not a nerd- unless the qualification for 'nerd' is 'more attentive than you are' in which case I think most of the school fits the bill." He finished tying off the pulls on his uniform top and grabbed a brush to run through his hair from the shelf by the bunk.

"Aww! Adam's defending the geeky girl!" Rocky crowed. "Adam and Mackenzie, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-"

"Shut up, Rocky!" Adam was blushing then. "I don't have to like somebody to be nice to them, all right? And you're NOT doing a great job of convincing me to do your homework." Changing the topic, always a good diversion, he thought.

"Oh, right." Rocky grinned. "Sorry. So, uh, buddy - I'm gonna ditch morning elementals to write this stupid thing. Let's go!"

"No way am I ditching class. Do it yourself and I'll read it at mid-day lunch break. That's still before we have to see Sensei Watanabe for ninja history." Adam never ditched his water element class - the girls weren't so bad, and Chad Lee was one of the best fighters he'd ever seen outside of a professional exhibition. And Marissa-sensei was a great teacher. Her usual training spot for the water ninja students was by the river on the edge of school grounds. Most of the students were put at ease by the rush of the water, and it showed in their skills during those sessions.

"But man, the point is that I don't know, like ANYTHING to write!"

Adam smirked and shook his head. "Then go read those old scrolls in the library, airhead," he said with a laugh. "What, am I supposed to lecture you on history all morning? So not my job, Rocko. And you think Aiden-sensei is going to just not notice if you ditch class?"

"Uh.." Rocky ran a hand over his short hair. "Well, he probably will.."

"Probably?" Adam raised an eyebrow as he started out of the dormitory, grabbing his practice sword and sheath from the rack on the wall. "He'll stop class and send the other ninjas to go find you, if the rumors I heard about him are true."

Rocky sighed and pouted. "'Sha said the same thing. Nuts." He kicked the floor and stopped abruptly. "Then you HAVE to help me! At least meet me in the library at lunchtime then?" He exclaimed, catching up with Adam and clapping him on the shoulder.

Adam sighed again. "Fine. Now go meditate on why you're gonna do your own homework, on time, from now on."

--

Adam put his belongings down at the long table running down the center of the library. It figured, Rocky wanted his help and then couldn't even show up on time. He sighed audibly, going to collect a couple resources for his wayward friend to use. He almost felt like he was condoning Rocky waiting until the last second to do anything important.

"What are you doing here?" A voice came from the end of the row he was standing in, breaking his absentminded stupor. He looked for its source and saw a kid standing there.

"Uh, waiting for my friend so we can study. You're Sensei Watanabe's son, right?" Adam replied, confused. "Aren't we allowed in the library during meal hours or something?"

The kid pursed his lips when his father was mentioned. "Yeah, I'm Cameron. And most people don't bother coming in here when they don't have to," he explained.

"So, what's your story, then?" Adam asked.

"Father tells me I have to keep busy," came the reply. "He doesn't want me to figure out that he thinks I'm too much of a weakling for ninja training." The abrasive sarcasm was evident in his voice, and Adam realized he knew exactly where the boy was coming from.

"Well, all the teachers talk about how smart you are. I bet your dad thinks more of you then you think he does." He wondered when he started sounding like his karate teacher from elementary school. "And it's the ninja way that the power of the mind will always overcome all others."

Cam scoffed. "Please. I might be a kid but I'm not an idiot or something."

Adam raised an eyebrow. A boy this smart, he's probably gonna end up destroying small islands in his unsupervised free time, he thought wryly. "So, what do you do all day then?" He inquired out loud.

Moments later, he had followed Cam to the back of the room, where the boy took a seat in front of a black-and-white monitor, cables and wires running everywhere. "I built this," he announced. "See, I used the energy from the forcefields surrounding the Academy to power some equipment to tap into a satellite, and now I can access electronic materials from all over the world."

Adam stared. The kid built computers and satellite receivers out of scrap parts? Smart was an understatement, then. At that point he heard Rocky yelling for him. "Hey, that's my friend, I promised to help him with his homework."

Cam laughed. "Father will figure it out if he waited until the last minute to do his work. And he'll definitely figure it out if YOU do his work. That's way too obvious a difference to get by a ninja master."

"I tried to tell him the same thing," Adam reassured the boy. "But he's stubborn - trying to convince him of anything is like trying to make the wind stop blowing." Cam smirked at the comparison. "Anyway, have fun with your... uh.. Satellite computer getup."

--

"Where were you?" He asked Rocky, sitting down next to his friend and his books.

"Grabbing lunch, dude, where else would I have been?" Rocky looked confused. "What, I wasn't gonna completely miss a meal for something as lame as homework!"

Adam massaged his forehead with the fingers of one hand, trying to avoid a headache. "You said to come here at lunch. I kind of figured that implied missing lunch, since you were more than willing to ditch class to do this."

"Well, class is class. Lunch is food, man." Rocky chuckled sheepishly. "Guess I should have told you so you didn't have to wait for me, though. Sorry?"

"It's fine," Adam sighed. "I met Sensei Watanabe's son. He's some kind of computer genius or something - he's only, like, ten and he built his own supercomputer in the back room."

"Seriously?" Rocky looked surprised. "Wonder why he's here instead of, like, in college or something. Kid geniuses go to college really young, right?"

"I dunno," Adam replied. "I'd wager that growing up in a secret ninja school probably doesn't net you a whole lot of opportunities like that." He opened one of the books he'd grabbed for Rocky's assignment. "Now. Ninja history. We've only got about an hour before class, so I'm gonna outline as much of the basics as I can for you, and you ... I dunno, make some stuff up or something."

"Awesome, man. I dunno what I'd do without you!" Rocky exclaimed exuberantly, grabbing a pencil and a couple sheets of paper, and a book of his own. This was going to be an interesting lunch hour.

---

Aisha looked around for the guys. They were about a minute and a half from being late, and she would bet money on it being Rocky's fault. She rolled her eyes and shifted in her kneeling position on the mats,

Sensei Watanabe taught the new students the history and culture of the ninja way in the hall next to his quarters, usually reserved for advanced level students who would train one-on-one with the head teacher for special missions. It was out of the way, and Aisha wondered if, despite going there every day, Adam and Rocky got lost or something equally crazy.

"Where's your friends?" The air ninja sitting to her left asked. Shawn, she thought his name was.

"I dunno," she responded, "I think they were finishing Rocky's homework."

"You guys know each other from before the Academy?" Shawn asked. "Has he always been that ditzy? He drives the air teachers nuts, especially Aiden-sensei."

Aisha cracked a smile, a little uncomfortable at the other student's tone. "Yeah, that's Rocko. I met him and Adam back in grade school. We all kind of balance each other out."

Shawn thought about that for a moment. "That makes sense, since you're all different elements, huh? I guess it works that way - "

Suddenly, the door crashed open and the current objects of their discussion came bolting into the hall, all but jumping into their appropriate places as a gong sounded outside, and their teacher strode silently to the front of the room to begin the lesson.

Adam looked annoyed. Rocky looked relieved. Aisha glared at them both. She was beginning to see a pattern here, and made a mental note to yell at Rocky about it later. Glancing back over at Shawn, she wondered what he was about to say. He was pretty strange.

--

Hmm. BTW, this isn't the same Shawn from Zeo who Tanya went out with. I didn't realize I had inadvertently used a name from any of the series. xD; (I actually tried to avoid that.. Oops.)


	4. Midnight Fights

**Notes **- So. This fic wants to be slash. Um, so it's gonna be. oo; If slash creeps you out you should leave? I don't write pr0n - I don't even write makeout scenes - and the boys are 14, and I'm not that big a perv anyway.. (If you are, can you share?)

**Warnings**: Angst. Kind of confusing POV switches? One-sided slash. An obnoxious gay-bashing kid. Um, that's mostly it. Bad characterization of Chad Lee? Should that be a warning? I need to watch Lightspeed Rescue again and try to imagine him at 18 better.

**Chapter 4** - In Which Nobody Gets Any Sleep

Loud crashes rang through the dormitory as students scrambled for their weapons, sirens sounding outside the building, and air horns sounded in the courtyard. Adam groaned inwardly, rolling out of bed and twisting easily so his feet hit the floor. This was their third attack drill since they got here, and it wasn't even Halloween yet. He shook Rocky, still asleep on the bunk below his.

"C'mon, man!" He yelled over the chaos. 'You'd think he'd learn to wake up at the sound of AIR HORNS,' he thought, shoving his friend awake roughly.

"What?" Rocky grumbled, waking up slightly. He sat upright as he took notice of the alarm and the other occupants of the dorm leaving in a chaotic rush uncharacteristic of the middle of the night, and jumped out of bed. "Not this again..."

The courtyard was a mess - ninjas entirely in black with no distinctive markings engaged the students combat by the light of the stars, augmented by the few torches that were still burning at that hour of the night. Many of the students were in varying degrees of disarray, most were barefoot, and virtually none looked the part of ninjas at all, or at least Rocky didn't think so. He always liked these midnight drills, at least when somebody woke him up for them. Like it was his fault he was practically deaf in his sleep? He laughed to himself as he executed a perfect aerial maneuver over two of the attackers' heads, landing and knocking them flat with a kick.

Somebody grabbed his upper arm from the left and he moved to block an incoming blow, but Aisha caught his wrist.

"It's me, dummy!" She laughed. "Chad and some of the other senior students went to mount a counter-offense, and they want us to make sure we've got our defense organized."

He nodded, and motioned to Adam, who had just dropped his opponent to the ground as well. "Teams of three?" He asked, almost rhetorically. They knew the game plan by now. The other first and second year students all had their defense teams, but none of them had the advantage of having trained together since childhood.

Secretly, Adam was glad the sensei hadn't split him up from his friends - he had worried about that when they all got assigned to different elements. Thankfully, he had found that the Academy was all about balance; Students from all three elemental disciplines lived and trained together, with the exception of their basic element classes. And really, even though Adam loved his friends, being with them all the time was just too much, so he was more grateful for that than he had expected to be.

The defensive teams had formed their familiar pattern about the courtyard, Adam following his friends even while his mind was somewhere else entirely. He figured Rocky was into the fight plenty for both of them. Abruptly, a different tone sounded on the air horns - the signal for the attacking parties to retreat, the signal that the drill was over.

"Man, I wonder if we chased them off or if this was a time-limit drill?" Rocky wondered out loud, replacing his practice sword in the sheath slung over his back. Looking at Rocky wearing a white tank top and red sweatpants, barefoot, with a leather strap over his chest, Adam's sleep-deprived and adrenaline-rushed brain somehow compared his friend to Rambo, and he laughed out loud despite himself. Aisha looked at him strangely.

"Adam?" She asked. "Is... something wrong?" Her tone implied the question, 'did someone hit you in the head when we weren't looking?'

"No," he answered, shaking his head almost violently. 'Stupid thoughts,' he grumbled inwardly. Why did he think about Rocky so much these days? He'd known the guy since kindergarten, after all. 'It's not like anything's different now,' he thought, 'it's just that 'karate class' has evolved into 'secret ninja school.'' Adam grinned wryly at the thought. At least most people didn't pick on him anymore.

Aisha interrupted his thoughts again. "Hey, you in there?" She asked, waving a hand in front of his face. "Come on, we don't get to sleep in just 'cause they decided to have a drill tonight, we still gotta be up with the sun!"

"Yeah," Rocky added, yawning and covering his mouth as an afterthought. "Let's bail and get back to catching some Z's already." He clapped a hand on Adam's shoulder. "I hope they make extra food for breakfast. I'm gonna be starved after all this."

"So what else is new?" Aisha laughed, poking him in the stomach as they went back into the dormitory. She waved as she went off with the female students, and the guys waved back.

"Am I really THAT bad?" Rocky complained sardonically, turning to Adam as they were hanging their weapons back on the rack in their barracks-style room. The other students were trickling back in, eager to resume their interrupted sleep.

Adam sighed. "Yeah, man, you are," he said, running a hand through his hair. "But that's why we love you." He grinned nervously, hoping his tone came off right.

"Will you guys just kiss or something already?" A voice came from behind them. It was Shawn, one of the other first year air ninja students. He was easily the most obnoxious student at the Academy, Adam thought, and he was way too interested in Rocky - and cracked way too many crude gay jokes on top of that - for Adam's taste. Either the guy just had no social skills and a broken gaydar, or he was a self-hating closeted homophobe. Adam had thought it was just the former at first, but as the days went by and the other boy's behavior had gotten more erratic, he wasn't sure anymore, and had concluded that it didn't really matter - the kid was a jerk either way.

"Man, shut up," Rocky scowled.

"Nice comeback," Shawn shot back. "Your little girlfriend there have to do all the thinking for you?"

"I'm not anybody's girlfriend, you jerk," Adam said tightly, stepping in between the two air ninjas. "Cut this stuff out before Chad or one of the other senior students comes back." Adam had become friends with the older water ninja during elemental training, and Chad was one of their residential supervisors, the one assigned to their particular living quarters.

"You're such a suck-up," Shawn complained. "Brainiacs always go running for help-" He stopped talking when Rocky punched him, and the resulting wrestling match made Adam wonder when ninja school would have everyone sufficiently trained so as to not act like children. Thankfully, that's when Chad showed up.

"Guys!" Exasperated, he grabbed the two boys by the backs of their shirts and pulled them apart. He shoved Rocky off in Adam's direction and Shawn into the weapons rack. "What's going on now?"

Shawn glared at Adam. "Goodie-two-shoes will tell you." Chad rolled his eyes.

"It's not 'goodie-two-shoes' to avoid annoying me after attack drills," he sighed. "You know, there was a ninja my first year with the same kind of ... team-oriented, winning personality you've got, Shawn."

"What about it?" The air ninja sneered.

"He almost got one of his teammates killed during a routine training exercise," Chad continued. "He was expelled from the Academy after a formal hearing."

Adam and Rocky glanced at each other.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not that stupid, isn't it?" Shawn jerked away from Chad's grasp. "I'm going back to bed. Save your stupid morality tales for someone who cares." He stalked off in the direction of the bunks, wiping his busted lip with the back of one hand.

Chad turned to Rocky. "You're lucky none of the sensei saw that nonsense. They do expel students for fighting amongst ourselves, you know. We're supposed to be disciplined in our use of the martial arts."

Rocky chuckled nervously. "Well, I wasn't really using martial arts, I was just kinda hitting him.. Is that better or worse?"

Adam slapped his forehead and winced in exasperation. "That's not the point, Rocko."

"He's right," Chad gestured to Adam. "That's actually NOT the point. Look, I know he's a jerk and I know he insults you. He does that to everybody. The sensei are aware of it and so are all the senior students. Most students with that kind of attitude problem get over it or get it trained out of them. The rest don't last here. In the meantime, just try to deal with it WITHOUT beating him up, okay?"

The two younger students nodded sheepishly.

"Go to bed. I'll report the incident to Aiden-sensei - he won't be pleased with either of you, Rocky, but he knows Shawn is a jerk too. I don't think Sensei Watanabe has to know about this... This time. Deal?"

"Deal," Rocky grinned, shaking the older ninja's hand in agreement. "It just bugs me when he disses my friends, y'know?" Chad nodded like he understood, and shoved Rocky in the direction of the bunks, directing his attention towards Adam.

"You've been quiet," he accused. "So, what exactly DID happen here?"

"It was nothing," Adam muttered.

"Speak up. People won't hear out here." The weapons rack was situated in a corridor by the entrance to the barracks-style sleeping area.

"Nothing," Adam repeated, more clearly. "Just Shawn said we should kiss already, and Rocko told him to shut up, and then Shawn said I was Rocko's 'little girlfriend,'" he made quotation marks with his fingers, "and had to do all his thinking for him. I tried to shut them up but Rocky hit him. Then they started rolling around, you saw that part, though."

Chad rolled his eyes. "Don't let him bug you," he replied. "There's plenty of guys with the opinion that any guy who prefers to use his brain over fighting is some kind of a sissy." He paused. "I'm not sure how that implicates Rocky, but I'd bet Shawn's not the first person to ever make fun of you."

Adam shook his head. "That's actually how I met Rocky. Back in elementary school, he chased off some older kids who stole my lunchbox. Then he dragged me to his karate class so I could learn to fight for myself." He smiled at the memory. "I still don't like to fight if I can help it. I never got in a fight at school, ever.. Learning karate mostly taught me to walk away."

"That's one of the principles of a true master of the martial arts," Chad said. "Fighting for the sake of violence is against the way of the ninja, as well as in conflict with your element. Water flows peacefully when left undisturbed, flowing around obstacles in its path."

Adam nodded slowly, hearing echos of Marissa-sensei's words in the older student's voice. He was pretty sure he was receiving praise on some level from one of the students he practically idolized, and really had no idea what to do with that. Chad put a comforting hand on Adam's shoulder.

"At any rate, you'll hear more of that stuff in the morning. Sensei is always talkative on elemental philosophies the class right after an attack drill, for some reason," he said, chuckling. "I think she wants to start the first years on summoning your element at will anyway, this will only give her a good excuse."

"Why's that?" Adam wondered aloud.

"Easy, you guys are much more effective fighters if you can channel your elements outwardly, instead of just incorporating their energies into your auras," Chad explained, leaning on the weapons rack. "Tonight's drill went well enough, but it's about time for you guys to start practical element work anyway."

Adam's eyes widened. "Like walking on water and stuff?"

Chad laughed. "Yeah, that's a fun trick at birthday parties," he joked. Everybody knew he liked to surf, and spent all his time out of class at the beach in Blue Bay Harbor. Rumor had it that the young man had the rare ability to talk to dolphins, but Adam wasn't going to ask if it was true or not. Then, Chad glanced at the clock over the rack of practice swords. "Okay, if we're gonna be up at sunrise, it's time to hit the hay. Again."

An hour later, Adam was still awake, lying in his bunk and staring up at the ceiling. What annoyed him the most was that he felt like a stupid girl. It was bad enough he couldn't stop thinking about the guy who had been his best friend since first grade, but now he was starting to develop a crush on someone who was practically an instructor. 'Just great,' he sighed to himself. 'I must have a serious damsel-in-distress complex or something.'

By the time the students began to get up, dress, and file out to the courtyard for meditation, Adam was grumpy, exhausted, and sick of hearing his brain talk.

--

This chapter got away from me a little bit. oo


	5. Foreshadowing

**Notes** - I reformatted all the previous chapters for consistency. I also fixed some typos, spelling errors, etc. :o

**Chapter 5 **- In Which Teenagers Are Dumber Than They Used To Be

Adam was in the lake again. He took a moment to wonder if he fell in the water more or less often than Rocky fell out of trees these days. They joked that 'Sha had it easy because it was impossible to fall off the ground. He waded back to dry ground and climbed out of the water, running his hand through his hair and sighing as his uniform made a wet squelching noise.

"Who decided we should train in leather?" He really wanted to know. So he could beat them.

"All water ninjas hate the training uniforms," Marissa answered, chuckling. "You get used to it."

"That's a lie," Chad chimed in, standing on the water's edge, leaning on a quarterstaff. "I'd still rather train in a wetsuit, that's never changed."

Adam blinked and tried not to process that statement - it was really the last mental picture he needed - while Marissa shook her head at Chad. "Okay, most of us get used to it. Besides, ideally, you're not actually supposed to fall INTO the water to begin with," she wisecracked, ruffling Adam's wet hair. He blushed. The girls laughed.

"Back to work," she ordered, slipping back into her 'sensei voice' as the students referred to it. Most of the instructors were pretty laid back, which had been a huge surprise, but they did make sure the training wasn't easy.

--

"Fighting amongst each other is grounds for expulsion from this school," Aiden all but growled at his two problem students. This was getting ridiculous - the middle of the night after a drill, that was almost excusable, but this time they had interrupted one of his lessons and he was not happy.

Rocky looked penitent enough, but Shawn just stood in front of the sensei with a scowl on his face. 'This kid's an instigator,' Aiden thought. 'He must get some perverse satisfaction out of causing trouble.. That or he's just stupid.' He sighed. Teenagers were getting dumber every year. He had been decrying that unfortunate fact ever since he was a student himself.

"What do you have to say for yourselves?" He continued, hating how much like his father he sounded. He hated being the teacher nobody liked, but why did being young mean he had to be 'cool' with these disrespectful little brats?

"Dude, I didn't do anything, he's just too much of a jerk for his own good!" Rocky shouted.

"Yeah, well, if this place had some standards, you wouldn't even be here," Shawn shot back, shoving Rocky in the ribcage. Aiden grabbed them both by the collars of their uniforms before Rocky could strike back.

"First of all!" He commanded. "Do NOT call me 'dude.' Second, if it were up to me, I'd be kicking you both out. Yes, Rocky, I know - you 'didn't do anything' - but you have to stop getting baited into fights. And you," he looked at Shawn, "have got to stop doing the baiting. I don't know if you're an idiot or just starved for attention, but get your act together."

Shawn looked like someone had slapped him. "You can't talk to me like that!"

"Man, he's the sensei and he could choke you without trying right now. I think he can talk however he wants," Rocky laughed.

"Will both of you shut up!" Aiden yelled. "Learn when to keep your mouths shut! It will greatly benefit you both. Just because it's your element doesn't mean you have to be spewing hot air all the time!"

Both students were, for once, silent as the sensei released his hold on them. This was probably more words he had said at one time than they had ever heard. That meant he was really ticked off, even Rocky could figure that one out, even though he thought it was unfair.

"You two are going to go on a run," the instructor continued, having taken a deep breath and resumed his even tone. "5 laps around the grounds should do it."

"Sensei, that's like, ten miles!" Rocky protested.

"It is," Aiden agreed. "It should give you plenty of time to reflect on exactly why causing disharmony among your comrades is a really, really bad idea." His stony glare told them that if they failed to do so adequately, they'd be doing even more 'reflecting' at a later date.

"Come to think of it... If I want both of you to come back alive, perhaps this should be done individually." Inwardly, he wondered if letting them kill each other in the forest would be such a bad thing. He shook the thought from his head. 'Can't think like that, _sensei_,' he reminded himself sardonically.

"I'll go first, sensei," Shawn volunteered. "I could use some loser-free time."

"Unfortunately, you have to take yourself with you," Aiden snapped. "Get going. Keep in mind what I said about learning when to shut your mouth." To his credit, the student departed without another word. Once he was gone, Aiden turned back to Rocky.

"Do you know your place as an air ninja?" He asked wearily, suddenly sounding like he hadn't slept in a month.

"Uh... Sensei?" Rocky was confused.

"To a team, the earth ninjas, they provide stability, the team's consistency. The water ninjas provide flexibility, finding new ways and solutions.. As air ninjas, we direct the energies of the team," Aiden tried to explain. The old ways of the dynamics between the elements weren't taught anymore at the Academy, he knew, because many had deemed the course of study too rooted in mysticism and not anywhere near grounded in reality. "This is why the air ninja must master himself to a higher level - It is far more detrimental to a team when a leader would let his emotions control him than when another teammate would allow the same."

Rocky sighed. "Yes, sensei," he affirmed. He knew the instructor was right, and what the man was saying made sense. Logic just failed to factor into his decision-making process when it came to reacting to Shawn - even less than it usually did, at any rate.

"I know you hate it when people disrespect your friends," Aiden continued. "And most of the time, it's not dishonorable to defend them. But circumstances matter, Shawn is a punk kid talking a lot of garbage, and your friends in this case happen to be ninjas. They could take care of themselves if he decided to actually try anything. So learn to walk away."

Rocky said nothing, but followed his instructor back to where they had left the rest of the class. All he knew is that if Shawn ever actually hit Adam, he would definitely have something to say about it, and the Academy could deal with it.

--

Aisha wandered through the forest. Mason-sensei had split their class up and sent the first years off individually to go "commune with the earth spirits." She secretly wondered what exactly the instructor was growing in that herb garden behind his quarters, because he said some seriously spacy things sometimes. 'Aren't earth ninjas supposed to be the grounded ones?' she wondered.

A change in the aura around her alerted her to the fact that she was pretty close to the outer limits of the Academy grounds, surrounded by the holographic forcefield that hid the school in an illusion from the outside world, and kept out most undetermined intruders. Dark ninja powers could penetrate it, but all the Academy students knew they were barred from using those kinds of abilities, and most of them were serious enough about their training to not want to be expelled for something like that just because they wanted to ditch class and sneak off to town.

A noise about 10 yards ahead caught her attention. "Who's there?" She called, looking through the trees, pulling her practice sword from her back. "Anybody?" She called again, cautiously moving forward.

Someone dropped from a tree to land behind her, and she spun around, taking a fighting stance.

"If it's not the school fag hag," Shawn laughed. "What are you doing out here?"

Aisha scowled, putting her sword back. 'Not this guy again,' she thought. "Training. I could ask you the same thing, I know the air ninja class is on grounds today."

"Aiden-sensei sent me on a run to punish me for beating up your airhead friend again." The ninja in red smirked. Aisha beat back the urge to throttle him. "It's not my fault he can't take it when I make fun of his little girlfriend."

"Dude, you know Adam could probably kick your butt, he's just smart enough not to," Aisha deadpanned.

"Yeah, right. Like I told sensei, if this place had standards, they wouldn't even be here."

"And you would?" This guy must be seriously deluded, the earth ninja thought to herself.

Shawn's expression took on a self-righteous smirk. "Of course. I'm not some little sissy pansy like girly-boy Adam, after all."

"You're hopeless," Aisha informed him. "I'm going back to training. Enjoy your punishment. God forbid you actually learn something." She pivoted on her heel and ran off into the forest, before she completely lost it and beat the snot out of the other student.

She wondered how the other boy even knew Adam was gay. She was pretty sure Adam hadn't even figured it out yet. She didn't really want to say anything; she had already decided to wait until he came to her to talk about it, to avoid freaking him out. It had been her hope that the Academy would give Adam a dose of self-confidence - Aisha hated seeing her friend exposed to the kind of negativity that Shawn brought into all their lives with his nonsense.

She sighed, and decided to talk to Adam after dinner. He would never bring up the topic now, not with Shawn making all their lives miserable. But what to say? 'Hey, I've been noticing you checking out guys, wanna talk about it?' Yeah, not if she ever wanted him to talk to her again.. Aisha sighed. She definitely had her work cut out for her.

--

Next chapter will be the dinner scene - I'm actually not gonna timelapse this one. o.o If this is going on a schoolyear timeline, this chapter is probably sometime around Halloween, a couple weeks after the fight in chapter 4. 1 & 2 were the first and second days, 3 is sometime in between. Just in case anyone's wondering. And I swear stuff's gonna happen soon; there was even some foreshadowing. WOOO :D


	6. Angst, Interrupted

**Notes** - Sorry, have to wade through some angst before stuff actually happens. oo This chapter's in-chapter title is a song lyric.

**Chapter 6** - In Which Even Losers Can Get Lucky Sometimes

--

Adam couldn't help but wonder where his friends were. Mostly because every other person who walked past him in the dining hall asked him about them. The Academy was rather small, and since the numbers of those students who resided on the grounds and trained full time were even smaller, it was pretty obvious when someone was absent from meals. Even moreso when they were first year students who couldn't be doing anything THAT important.

That made Adam wonder if everyone interrogated Aisha about his and Rocky's whereabouts every time they had to stay back in a class for being late, or miss a meal to do Rocky's homework in the library, or when they skipped optional training hours to study ninja philosophy and history together.

He thought about that for a second. Every time he wasn't where he was supposed to be, he was with Rocky. There had to be irony there he was missing. He sighed and stabbed a piece of meat on his plate with a chopstick, twisting it around idly. And everyone seemed to think he looked out of place without his friends with him, or something - at the very least they had to think the group was telepathic.

"Hey, kid." Somebody sat down across the table from him. "Where's your shadows?" It was Chad - wait, why was Chad here?

"Uh.. What?" Adam was confused, and he found that his brain couldn't shift into the gear required for a level of conversation adequate for the situation.

"Rocky and, uh, what's her name, the Earth ninja." Chad took a bite of his food while he waited.

"Aisha. Oh. Uh, I dunno," Adam stammered. "They're not here." He mentally kicked himself.

"Aisha, right." Chad grinned. "Sorry, I don't always remember the girls from other elements, since they don't live with us. But you three are pretty tight.. They disappear on you or something?"

Adam looked down at his mostly-untouched dinner. 'Does everyone think I'm some kind of reject, or what?' he wondered. Chad looked at him strangely.

"Hey, I'm not trying to be mean or anything," he continued. "I'm mostly joking. It's just odd to see you by yourself, that's all."

"Yeah, I guess." Adam sighed. "I really don't know where they are.. It's messing with my head a little bit. And I'm worried Rocky got himself into some kind of trouble." Inwardly, he did a double-take. 'Did I just say that out loud?'

Chad laughed. "I hear that guy's a piece of work. He's pretty defensive when it comes to you, though."

Adam looked down at the table again, blushing fiercely and trying not to look like he was trying to hide it. Which he was, of course, he wasn't an idiot.

"Teasing you is too easy," Chad grinned. "All I'm saying is that he acts like he's got something to prove."

Before Adam could respond, Aisha sat down at the table. "Hey, am I interrupting anything?" she asked.

"Hi," Chad greeted her. "Nope, nothing. Adam was wondering where you and Rocky were, though."

"Rocky's off with Aiden-sensei," Aisha explained, in between bites of her dinner. "He and that jerk Shawn got into a fight in class this morning, Aiden-sensei sent Shawn off on a run as punishment. I ran into him in the forest and he was nasty, as usual." She stopped to take a drink of water. "Anyway, Rocky was supposed to do his punishment after Shawn got back - I ran into him on my way back to the dorms to shower before dinner."

"So... The guy took all day to run punishment laps so Rocky would miss dinner..?" Adam hazarded a guess. That would definitely annoy his friend to no end, but he wasn't sure Shawn was clever enough to think of it.

"Nope!" Aisha replied. "He didn't come back. Rocky took me to tell Aiden-sensei when and where I ran into him - that's why they both went to look for him. I was going to go too, but Aiden-sensei told me to just come to dinner - he said I wasn't the one who owed him a punishment. Anyway, Sensei Watanabe was going too, so either they think something bad happened to him -"

"Or that he's doing something bad." Adam finished her sentence for her. "Wouldn't surprise me at all."

To Adam's surprise, Chad agreed with him. "That would explain why the other lead teachers aren't here." Mason and Marissa weren't at dinner, but teachers missing scheduled meals wasn't uncommon, as they often engaged in special training or missions that took them away.

"Well, I'm sure they'll find the doofus, no matter what dumb thing he managed to do," Aisha deadpanned, rolling her eyes.

"Probably," Chad agreed, finishing his meal and standing up. "Anyway, I'm going out to the north gardens. It's quiet this time of the day." He looked across the table at Adam. "You look like you're done stabbing your dinner, want to come work on some tai chi? It'll help you relax." He grinned. "You seem like you could use it."

Aisha jumped in, "Actually, I kind of need to talk to him. Can he meet you out there in like, 20 minutes?" Adam gaped at her. Why was she agreeing to this for him?

"Sure," came the amused reply, as the older ninja left them alone.

"What?" Aisha asked. Adam was still staring at her like she had grown a second head.

"What did you do that for?" He managed to ask.

"Do what?" She was totally playing dumb. Maybe she could goad him into saying something. "So you're gonna go learn some tai chi from your classmate. Who cares?"

"I - he - arrgh!" Adam sputtered. "'Sha, you can't DO that!"

"Do what?" She repeated, sticking her tongue out at him before taking another bite of her dinner. It was getting cold, since she had been late. "It's not like you LIKE him or something..." She let the words hang in the air, getting across the point that it was a question rather than a statement. 'That was so not how this was supposed to go, but all right,' she contemplated.

Adam blinked twice. He didn't just hear that. There was absolutely no way, he told himself. He clenched his eyes shut, resisting the urge to start chanting "La la la, I'm not listening" until the world went away for a while. Aisha chuckled.

"I guess that answers that question," she quipped.

Adam groaned, looking around quickly to make sure nobody was nearby, before he said anything. "Look, don't TELL anybody -" he started in an undertone before Aisha cut him off.

"Why would I?" She asked. "I figured it out before you did anyway. You've had a crush on Rocko since like, last year, am I right?"

Adam was speechless again. She continued, "Look, he's clueless and has no idea. You gotta know that, at least. I only figured it all out 'cause girls are observant like that."

"So.. You're cool with... this?" Adam asked hesitantly.

"Cool? I think you should go train with the incredibly cute guy who wants to spend time with you," she answered, winking at him. He blushed a deep red again.

"Seriously?" He questioned. She threw a chopstick at him.

"Yes!"

He sighed, picking the chopstick up. "It's all your fault if I do something stupid." He muttered, wishing he had the confidence in himself other people apparently had in him.

--

"Hey! I know you!" Cam shouted, breaking form to run over to Adam. Chad hadn't mentioned he hung out with Sensei Watanabe's son.

"Yeah, I see you in the library sometimes," Adam agreed. "You showed me your cool computer." Cam nodded enthusiastically.

"Way to miss the 'being focused' part of this exercise, Cam," Chad noted, after he finished the final steps of the form he had been engaged in. "You're supposed to concentrate." He grinned at Adam. "Don't tell Sensei, but I teach Cam sometimes."

"Yeah," the boy sulked, "Father bars me from all the classes and from studying any of the ninja arts as more than abstract concepts."

"I think you've got great potential, myself," Chad mused. "But I'm not head teacher. You'd be too young for formal training here anyway, all the students are teenagers, you know."

"Maybe your dad will change his mind when you're older?" Adam offered helpfully.

Cam smirked, an already well-practiced gesture for his young age. "You don't know my dad," he remarked sardonically. Chad grinned. He, on the other hand, did know Cam's dad - he'd been at the Academy for 3 years already and had a pretty good idea that the man was as stubborn as any other air ninja, it was just well-hidden by the practiced veneer of wisdom required of a ninja master.

"That's the truth," he agreed, patting Cam on the back. "But people can change, even your dad. Anyway, go on back to your quarters. Dinner's almost over and he'll probably be looking for you when he gets back."

Cam gave an exaggerated sigh. "Only if he wants to look over my schoolwork or something." Cam went to correspondence school just like the residential ninja students, but it was because he was too smart for the local schools in Blue Bay Harbor, not because ninja training took up most of his day. "I'll go anyway, though."

He ran off, stopping to turn and wave briefly before he was gone.

--

They had to have been going through forms for nearly an hour, Adam noted, because he noticed it getting dark all of a sudden. He had lost track of time, that was uncharacteristic of him.

"Hey, I'm pretty beat," he found himself saying. "And I have homework I kinda need to do.."

"That's cool, it's getting late anyway." Chad slung one arm around his shoulders casually. Adam tensed abruptly and moved away slightly, trying to think of something to say.

"What?" Chad faced him, grinning - Adam couldn't help thinking that the smile was intoxicating, and the older ninja's laidback attitude unnerved him just enough that the logic center of his brain ceased to function. The next thing he knew, he was kissing his classmate in the twilight.

Time stopped in his head. 'Okay. What am I doing.' His thoughts suddenly kicked back in and he jerked away, eyes wide and trembling slightly. "Sorry!" He squeaked out, before turning on his heel and bolting for the dormitory.

--

So, where DID Shawn disappear to? Uh, when I figure it out, you guys will be the first to know. :D


	7. In The Past

**Notes** - The notes are spoilers, read the end. Cam talks a lot in this one, I tried to make him believable as a ten year old without making him sound like Justin.

**Chapter 7** - In Which The Past Is Revealed

Adam was tired. The previous night, he had hid under the covers of his bunk until everyone had gone to sleep, not wanting to face anyone or answer any questions. Rocky had shown up only an hour before curfew, complaining about the completely pointless hike he'd been forced to go on in the name of looking for the "class pain-in-the-butt" - in response to which Adam had mumbled something about being sick and if everyone wouldn't just mind leaving him alone, thanks. Rocky had taken the hint and gone to try and steal some food from the dining hall.

Around 4:30 AM, he glanced at the clock on the shelf and sighed, noting the time. Everyone would be getting up for sunrise meditation soon and he still really, really did not want to face Chad. He cursed the Academy's setup of students living, eating, and training together - didn't they realize that made it hard to avoid people you didn't want to see? The logical part of his brain pointed out that was probably the point, and he squashed that thought as he got out of bed. Maybe if he beat everyone to meditation they'd all ignore him. He could think about what to do about the rest of the day while he was supposed to be meditating.

--

"Hey man, good to see you up!" Rocky's asked, not especially caring that his friend was engaged in meditation, much like the other ninjas surrounding them. "You okay?" He waved a hand in front of Adam's face before plopping down on the ground beside him, yawning widely.

He heard Aisha sigh. "Rocko, he's meditating, leave him alone," she said, keeping her voice low out of respect, and partially because it was only zero-dark-thirty in morning and she was too tired to yell that early.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he's deaf," Rocky mumbled. "Hey, 'Sha, watch this," he stage-whispered, reaching over to poke his friend in the ribs, a stupid grin on his face.

The water ninja opened his eyes and turned to his friend before contact was made. "If you push me or poke me I'm gonna kill you."

Rocky pouted and took his hand back in an exaggerated gesture. "See? Not deaf."

Aisha rolled her eyes. "Guys, shut up and meditate," she hissed.

"Gladly," Adam replied, closing his eyes again. He silently weighed the options of staying there all morning and skipping breakfast, or going to breakfast and not talking to anyone. He figured either way, he couldn't skip class, and that was where he really didn't want to go.

--

"Attention!" Sensei Watanabe's voice echoed through the dining hall. When their head master raised his voice, Adam thought, everyone paid attention. His friends had forced him to come to breakfast - he should have figured Rocky wouldn't leave him to 'meditate' alone until class began. Aisha had voiced her concern over how tired he looked and demanded he eat breakfast with them, otherwise she worried he would pass out. He couldn't help but agree with that logic.

He looked up at where their instructors. All of them looked unusually serious for a morning following a night where there hadn't been a botched attack drill, and some of the students looked confused.

"Some of you may know," the head teacher continued, "that yesterday a student by the name of Shawn Rourke disappeared during a solitary training exercise."

"School code word for 'punishment,'" Rocky cracked in an undertone, sitting across the table. A couple students sitting around them snickered.

"I know several of you have ... personal conflicts with the student in question," Sensei Watanabe chose his words carefully. The truth was that most of the students outright hated the kid, and the other instructors exchanged meaningful glances that indicated their own distaste for him as well. The expression on Marissa's face told everyone who looked at her that she couldn't care less if the boy never came back, and Aiden looked displeased as well. Mason was usually pretty carefree, Adam reflected, but even he appeared somber in the current situation. From what Adam knew about the earth ninja, he didn't have it in him to hate anybody - the young man carried an aura of peace about him, what seemed to disturb him the most was the feeling of conflict in his surroundings.

"Dude, that's SO an understatement," Rocky muttered, earning him an elbow to the ribs from Aisha, sitting to his right.

"Shut up, I want to hear sensei," she whispered angrily. "You're gonna get in trouble again."

Fortunately, if the teachers heard their pupils' wisecracks and whispering, none of them reacted. Aiden cleared his throat, and a glance from the master gave him permission to speak. He stepped forward.

"Personal conflicts is a bit of an understatement, sensei," he spoke harshly, glancing over at the table where Chad sat with one of the other senior students, an earth ninja named Matt, and another water ninja, Casey. "Certain past events are perhaps not quite behind us all, and it is possible that for some, family ties run deeper than ninja law."

The head teacher's calm expression broke for a moment. He knew the events the young man was referencing - they reminded him far more of his own family's past than he cared to admit. These young ninjas did not know of the things that had transpired during his own time as a student here; he doubted they could comprehend the idea of him young enough to be a student. He shook his head briefly. "That may be true," he replied evenly, "although it sounds very much like an accusation, _Sensei _Fields." He stressed the title, prompting the young man to bow respectfully and retake his place with the other instructors.

Adam, Rocky, and Aisha all glanced at each other. The unspoken question was, does anybody know what they're talking about?

"Be that as it may," Sensei Watanabe went on, "our instructors will be continuing a search for this student through the daylight today. We ask that the senior students please assist, you may see me when you are done with your meal. Formal classes will not be held, although we do hope you will spend at least some of your time training. May I also suggest you study your Ninja Philosophy lessons, or spend some time on your regular academics, as many of you are very behind."

Some of the students groaned.

"Hey, guys, if we don't get a day off when a kid runs away, neither do you," Mason chuckled. "And you're just gonna get it even harder when classes get back in session anyway!" He grinned, tempering his cheeriness a little when the head teacher shot him a look that very obviously told him to be quiet.

--

Adam hid in the library. He was working on his algebra lessons for their "normal" schooling. Rocky and Aisha, like most of the students, had taken their 'free day' to hang out, spar, and gossip without the instructors around. He had declined, making up another 'not feeling well' excuse, and glad for the opportunity to hide.

"Hey, what's going on?" A small but insistent voice interrupted his concentration. Right, Cam hangs out in here, he thought. The boy sat down across the table from him. "All the teachers and my dad are gone and nobody's in classes."

"A student disappeared. They're looking for him," Adam explained tiredly, barely looking up from the math he wasn't really doing.

"Disappeared?" Cam sounded suspicious. "Who?"

"Uh, this air ninja nobody likes, Shawn," he mumbled. "Aisha saw him out by the perimeter yesterday while he was doing a punishment for Aiden-sensei. He didn't come back."

"Shawn Rourke?" Cam's eyes narrowed. "Oh, boy, I bet he's doing something awful."

"Why?" Adam asked. 'Cam probably knows what the sensei were talking about,' he thought to himself. 'He did grow up here.'

"A couple years ago," Cam lowered his voice like he was telling a secret - he probably was, Adam's brain spoke up - "That guy's older brother was a student here. And he was totally bad. He was an air ninja too. Anyway, he ended up getting expelled for using the Dark Powers." Cam sounded awed - even telling the story, he couldn't believe somebody would ever do something like that.

"Seriously?" Adam cringed. "What did he do?"

"Uh, well... I'm not s'posed to know this 'cause I was too young, but everybody talked about it for like, weeks..." Cam took a breath. "He was secretly supplying information to one of the Academy's greatest enemies... This evil space ninja named Lothor. He's always hated the Academy and everything we stand for. My father knows he wishes to one day amass an army and destroy us."

Adam blinked. That wasn't the answer he'd been expecting, that's for sure. "So... This kid was giving ... Lothor ... information? Like how to get around the defenses here?"

"Exactly," Cam agreed. "But even with his help, Lothor wasn't strong enough to attack the Academy alone. My dad was the head air instructor back then, until the last headmaster retired. He stayed until just last year, but this really took it out of him. Aiden-sensei was about to graduate, and Marissa-sensei and Mason-sensei were brand new instructors. They all stopped him with the help of the students, but... It was a mess!"

"Wait, Aiden-sensei is younger than the others?" Adam asked, surprised. He'd have guessed the man was the most senior of the three.

"Yeah," Cam affirmed. "Why do you think he always acts like he's got something to prove?" Adam had to admit, that made some sense. The boy continued, "so, you know Matt and Casey? Chad's friends?"

Adam cringed slightly at the mention of the older water ninja and nodded - if Cam noticed the minute gesture, he hoped the boy was too young to interpret it. He really didn't KNOW the older ninjas, but Casey was water element too, so he at least was familiar with her. And Matt lived in their dorm, like all the residential male students, so he had met him, at least. He was one of the motorcross fanatics - Adam guessed a sport where you got covered in mud all day could appeal to earth ninjas - and had been involved in helping open a racing track in the neighboring town of Blue Bay Harbor. Mason-sensei had been involved as well, furthering Adam's conclusion about earth ninjas and mud.

Personally, he didn't see the appeal that surfing, jet-skiing, and other water-related sports held for many of the water ninjas, either - he liked his element well enough but didn't feel the need to get beaten up by the sea on a regular basis. He turned his attention back to Cam's story, wondering what those two had to do with all of this, and not wanting to miss the answers.

"Well, you know that Chad's their third, making them a team with two water ninjas and an earth ninja? Well... That's because Kyle - that's Shawn's brother - was originally their third.. And in the fight for the Academy, he... Well... He killed both Chad's teammates." Cam was visibly disturbed by the recollection of events.

"So that's what Aiden-sensei meant by 'certain past events are perhaps not quite behind us all,' when they talked about Shawn disappearing," Adam breathed, comprehension dawning on him. "And when he said 'possible that for some, family ties run deeper than ninja law.' Your dad said that sounded like an accusation!"

"Yeah, well, it does. But it's not outside of the realm of possibilities," Cam said slowly. "When Kyle was banished, after Lothor lost the fight, everybody's pretty sure he went into space to join him."

"So Aiden-sensei thinks Shawn might be more loyal to his brother - who, according to ninja law, no longer IS his brother - than to the Academy," Adam finished.

"Yeah. Aiden-sensei was very close to the air ninja who died, Toya. He was pretty close with Chad and their earth ninja, Megan too, but Toya was like, his best friend. They knew each other since they were little kids and they were probably the most competitive students here!" Cam exclaimed. "After he graduated and became an instructor, though, he kind of stopped talking to everybody."

"Small wonder he didn't just leave," Adam pondered out loud. "After something like that, I don't know that I'd want to stay here.."

"Well, he wanted to," Cam said. "But Father knew he would likely be appointed headmaster in the near future, and asked Aiden-sensei to remain at the school to teach the air students when that was to occur."

Adam thought about that for a moment. Cameron's father was a true master, and Aiden was a loyal man; it made sense that he would obey the sensei's wishes for him. The fact that he couldn't help himself from holding a grudge over his friends' deaths was probably bothering him, Adam mused... And he couldn't help but wonder if Chad held the same grudge. He hadn't acted like it - of all the older students, he had probably been the most tolerant of Shawn's behavior.

Adam sighed audibly, shutting his workbook and resting his head on the table. He was too exhausted to think about this, and even though he really didn't want to deal with the inevitable awkwardness, he knew he had to ask Chad about the story Cam had just relayed to him. If anybody could shed some more light on the situation, he could. 'Besides, it's not like Aiden-sensei is gonna tell me anything,' Adam thought, 'Even if I was dumb enough to ask.'

--

Okay, to clear up the timelines and character groupings in Cam's story:

Two years in the past, 1991, the groups of intermediate students were Kyle, Matt, and Casey; and Toya, Megan, and Chad, and they were about fifteen or sixteen. (Figure about the Ninja Storm kids' skill level pre-series - Sensei says in Prelude To A Storm something to the extent of them having been there almost a year and being behind in their studies.) Aiden's teammates were two anonymous ninjas as of now and probably won't become important. Figure him to be about eighteen then and twenty now, whereas Marissa and Mason are a year or two older - they were new teachers that year.

Also, I can totally see Lothor biding his time and continuing to test the Academy over the years until he got together enough forces to actually overpower them. I dunno if there's any evidence for this in canon but that's why I'm writing an AU. ;D


	8. Skipping Dinner

**Notes** - Y'know, this took me a long time to write for a chapter that goes essentially nowhere. A few days were devoted entirely to cleaning the floodwater out of the carpet in my apartment, though. I heart New York. ¬.¬

**Warnings** - Boys kissing boys in this chapter. I still only own my OCs and this screwed up idea. oo;

**Chapter 8** - In Which There Is Making Out In A Cave

Chad sat down on his bunk wearily. He'd been out with the search parties all day - if this kid was going to be anywhere near as much trouble as his brother was, they needed to nip the situation in the bud.

Then there was Adam. 'Jeez, the first years came in all kinds of extremes this year,' he thought. 'Maybe I should deal with that sometime today. At least he's not a girl; I've got some chance of talking to him without coming off as a complete idiot.' He looked around the room - a few people were hanging out, among them, Adam's friend Rocky reading a comic book. Chad got up and went over to the younger ninja's bunk.

"Hey, you know where Adam is?" He asked, startling Rocky.

"Uh, nah, man," Rocky thought for a second. "Actually, he's been avoiding everybody all day. I looked for him in the library, and Cam said he was there and said something about the waterfall, so I went out there, but I didn't find him either, so I totally have no idea."

Chad smirked. Of course the air ninja wouldn't have found Adam at the waterfall if he didn't know where to look. "Oh well. Thanks anyway, man," he replied cheerfully.

"Hey, uh, why are you looking for him?" Rocky looked confused. As far as he knew, Adam didn't really hang out with any of the water ninjas outside classes.

"Just want to talk about an elemental training demo we're gonna do once classes resume," Chad replied easily. It was a lie, but he figured it was preferable to the truth.

"Oh. Well, whatever," Rocky shrugged, and picked the comic book back up. "If I see him I'll tell him you're looking."

"Thanks, but I think I'll find him first," Chad remarked over his shoulder as he left.

--

"So, it was insanely weird," Rocky said, shoveling more food into his mouth while continuing to talk. "He wanted to know where Adam was for some reason." His speech became increasingly garbled. "I mean, and what's weird is that I didn't know."

Aisha narrowed her eyes. "Will you chew and swallow before you talk? I can't understand you when you've got a mouthful of rice, and plus, you're spitting it everywhere!" She threw a balled-up napkin at him.

Rocky stopped eating for a moment. "I said, he wanted to know where Adam was and I didn't know, which I realized was weird, 'cause I always know where Adam is."

"So, our friend's getting a social life, and you think that's a bad thing?" Aisha rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, with a ten-year-old genius who practically lives in the library and one of the top students who has no reason to want to hang out with first years," Rocky replied with another mouthful of food. "I mean, I know he's into weird friends - duh, he knows US - but come on."

"You just jealous he's been ditching you, Rocko?" Aisha grinned. Rocky blushed uncharacteristically for a moment.

"It's just that he doesn't usually disappear..." He trailed off. "I dunno, I'm worried, I guess."

Aisha thought about that for a while. This could work out to be a really complicated situation, she reflected, in more ways than one.

--

Chad stood in the clearing by the waterfall. Kneeling by the water, he placed the palm of one hand on the surface, concentrating for a moment to let the spirits of water reach out, searching for the presence of others. Getting his answer, he stood again, and stepped out onto the water, walking out to stand directly in front of the waterfall. He concentrated again, a blue aura forming around him, which deflected the force of the waterfall as he walked underneath it.

Once he reached the other side, he stepped up off the water and back onto dry ground - facing a stunned Adam, who had assumed a defensive stance at the sign of another person until he had realized who had found him.

"Figured you'd be out here," Chad said, moving past Adam to sit down on a rock, facing out towards the waterfall. "A place everybody but your friends knows about isn't the greatest place to hide."

Adam was still shocked, but he had wanted to talk to the guy - this just wasn't the way he intended to do it. And he was pretty sure what he wanted to talk about wasn't going to be the main topic of conversation unless he started it.

"Uh, I talked to Cam earlier," he started. Chad raised an eyebrow.

"About...?"

Adam cleared his throat. "What the sensei said at breakfast this morning."

Chad didn't respond. He continued.

"Uh, especially what Aiden-sensei mentioned. About, uh, past events and personal conflicts."

Still no response. Adam sighed inwardly.

"He said... He said that Shawn's older brother was evil."

"Cam shouldn't be telling the story of that whole event," the older ninja replied evenly. "He might be a genius but he is just a kid." He noticed Adam's confused expression and elaborated. "What he told you is probably all true.. He just doesn't know all the details."

"That's why..." Adam swallowed. "That's why I'm asking you."

Chad sighed. This was a conversation he wanted to have even less than the one he had intended to come here for, and made a mental note to talk to Sensei Watanabe's precocious son about what being too smart for your own good meant.

None of this, including what Cam told you, gets around as gossip," he warned. Adam nodded in response.

"Cam told you about Kyle. What he didn't tell you - and if he did, I'm going to have to seriously question how he knew - is that Kyle and I were ... together. Before all of that happened." His tone made the implication somewhat obvious.

Adam stared blankly. So not the explanation he was expecting. Okay, at least when it came to the other part of this conversation, he now knew that the incredibly inappropriate crush he had on his classmate was at least a little less inappropriate. The next thought in his mind was how inappropriate that train of thought was at the current time.

"When he showed up here during the attack on the school, I tried to talk to him - reason with him. My friends - Toya, Megan, did Cam tell you about them?"

Adam recalled the story and nodded silently.

"He would have killed me," Chad sighed. "Megan pushed me out of the way - he was using throwing stars. One hit her in the leg, she bled out from her femoral artery." He took a deep breath. "Toya defeated him; but spared him for proper judgement by the head teacher and the ninja council. But he also took a strike from a poisoned blade, and died hours later."

"I guess some enemies aren't into honor codes," Adam muttered, fiddling with the ties on his uniform.

"You'll find that most of them aren't," Chad agreed dryly. "Evil ninjas are actually better than most, I would think. Even the Dark Powers mandate certain things."

"You don't hold a grudge." Adam remarked abruptly. "Aiden-sensei is still so angry but you don't seem like you are."

"I don't blame people for mistakes they didn't make," Chad replied. "Shawn might not have been the greatest kid to start with, but he wasn't destined to become his brother. Kyle made his choice to betray the academy, his friends... people who loved him." He paused, melancholy visible on his face for a moment, before he smiled with a quiet resolve. "Everyone makes their own choices. I wanted to judge Shawn based on his, not on Kyle's."

Adam nodded slowly. "Because even if you were wrong, it was the right thing to do," he pondered out loud.

"Well, at any rate, it seems like I **was** wrong," Chad sighed. "This part's even more of a secret, but the sensei found a dark energy signature out by the cloaking field."

"So..." Adam was confused. "What's going to happen?"

"I have no idea. I guess we just wait until it does... And in the meantime, we can discuss the other reason you're hiding in a cave during dinner."

Adam scuffed one booted foot in the dirt, raising a small cloud of dust. "Uh. Yeah. About the other night.. Sorry." He was blushing, and he knew it, and he kicked himself mentally. "Um, 'Sha talked me into even going out there with you."

"I asked you for a reason. And while the fact that you seem incredibly uptight for your age is a factor, the fact that you're cute is a bigger one." Chad chuckled at the surprised expression he got in return.

"So, wait, you knew I liked you?" Adam looked horrified. "What, do I have something written on my face and nobody told me?"

"I didn't know anything for sure until about five seconds ago when you just said it," Chad replied, slightly amused, "But you kissing me and running away was a big clue."

"I mean.. Before that." There was a brief moment of eye contact accompanying the question before Adam leaned back against the cave wall, intently studying his boots again.

"Your body language is only subtle to people who don't know what to look for," Chad explained. "And a lot of ninjas are empaths - the connection with our elemental spirits tunes us into how others think and feel. A lot of philosophers theorize that it's how the Power tries to prevent its users from becoming corrupt."

Adam thought about that for a second. "So... Compassion as a natural result of empathy?" He guessed.

"That's the theory," the older ninja affirmed. "It's not an entirely crazy thought; it just makes assumptions about human nature that, unfortunately, aren't always true. And not all ninjas have the heightened sense of empathy, which throws off that theory. You'll hear Sensei Watanabe talk his jaw off next year about it all, at any rate. Will you sit down?" He changed the topic abruptly. "I'm horrible at this and you're making me nervous standing there like that."

"Horrible at what?" Adam asked, hesitantly crossing the small distance to take a seat on the flat rocks as well. "And why would I be making you nervous?"

"Small talk," Chad grinned. "And because regardless of the fact that I've got to be crazy - you're what, fifteen? - I like you. A lot."

"I turned fifteen a few weeks ago," Adam mumbled self-consciously. Aisha and Rocky had thrown him a party at a pizza place in Blue Bay Harbor. "You can't be that old, anyway."

"Nah, I'm going to be eighteen in a few months. You'll get why I feel old when the new first-years show up next year. Doesn't matter how old they actually are; most of them will seem like kids," Chad laughed. "Believe me, you're the rare exception to that rule."

The implicit compliment only served to make Adam forget what he was going to say.

"The day after tomorrow is Sunday," he continued. "Come to the beach with me."

"The beach?" Adam blinked. It was December. It was sixty degrees outside on a good day. "Why? It's winter." That didn't mean he wouldn't go, he just seriously questioned his own sanity for even considering it.

"Right, you don't surf, I forgot." Chad grinned sheepishly. "Never mind, then. I wouldn't expect anyone who's not a board junkie to understand how freezing water is fun. What DO you do?"

Adam pondered the question. "Uh, mostly hanging out with my friends.. Martial arts.. Studying. I dunno." He sighed. "I rollerblade sometimes?" He was thankful that Chad didn't seem to notice how boring he was.

"Okay, rollerblading. Does the park sound good? We can get some take-out and have a picnic or something." It's not like improvising could turn out that badly.

"Uh.. Well," Adam stuttered. "I mean, that sounds fine.. But I'll go to the beach if you want. I... Uh, I just didn't realize people would actually surf when the water's this cold."

"You'd sit there all day and end up being bored," Chad protested. "We can talk at the park, anyway."

"I'm sure I wouldn't be that bored watching you surf - I like watching you in practice, after all." Adam did a double-take as he realized how that could be interpreted. "Um, I mean because you're really good -" His hurried explanation was cut off as Chad leaned over and kissed him.

He gave up trying to remember what he was going to say next for the time being; the feeling of soft lips on his own that tasted like warmth and light, the closeness of the other ninja's physical form as well as the aura he exuded, and the vague clean scent of saltwater that seemed to have stuck after years spent near the ocean were all far too enticing at the moment for Adam to give rational thought much of a chance.

When they pulled apart, he noted the slight flush to Chad's face, which he was sure matched his own - that realization calmed his nerves a little - and a slightly amused smile. "What?" He asked self-consciously.

"Oh, nothing," came the reply. "We should go back to the school before people wonder, though." A pause. "The park, Sunday?"

Adam thought about it for a moment. Free day, with Chad, away from the school. "Yeah. Definitely."

--

Whee, trying to not be too a) OOC or b) creepy. (Or use omg insane amounts of retarded cliches for kissing scenes!)


	9. The Date

**Notes** - Y'know, I was gonna work an ape-boy joke into this chapter, but I didn't. Warnings apply - boys kissing boys, not mine, yadda yadda.

**Chapter 9** - In Which Nobody Can Mind Their Own Business

"Dude, Casey said you're not going surfing today," Matt practically fell into his seat across from Chad, his mouth already full of toast. Breakfast was later on Sundays, but it was still too early as far as the earth ninja was concerned. "You sick or something, bro?"

"No," Chad grinned. "Just ... going to hang out in town."

"Hang out?" Matt scratched his head. "Dude, you don't hang out. Unless it's with dolphins and whales and fish and stuff."

"Yeah, man, 'and stuff.' Hey Casey," Chad waved to the other water ninja as she sat down beside Matt with her own tray of food. "Please, spare me from Mr. Rocks-For-Brains' lack of knowledge of marine wildlife," he commented dryly.

She laughed, leaned over and kissed the earth ninja on the cheek. "Matt, I love you, but don't talk, okay?"

"Dude, what? I just wanna know what Chad's doing today," he complained sarcastically. "It's not my fault he hasn't done anything but study, train and surf for two years." He reached across the table and punched his friend playfully on the shoulder. "If he's getting a life I think we deserve to know!"

"I told you, I'm just going to hang out in town."

"'Hang out' like that thing that you never do, or 'hang out' like you have plans but don't want to tell us?" Casey raised an eyebrow as she elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs. "I think you just may be right about something for once in your life, Matt."

Chad laughed. "Okay, okay... It's kind of a date. I think."

"Dude, a date?" Matt looked puzzled. "When and where did you meet anybody? There's that whole you never leaving school thing."

"And, you think?" Casey cut in. "How do you 'think' it's a date?"

"See, this is why I don't tell you guys anything," Chad remarked. "Let's see.. We never said the word 'date' but we kissed twice and then made plans to hang out."

"So a date," Matt commented around a mouthful of food.

"I concur," Casey agreed. "But this still doesn't answer the questions of HOW, WHEN, and most importantly - WHO?" She elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs. "Hey, I'll bet you ten bucks it's somebody from school."

"Seriously? Babe, who would he date from school?"

Chad rolled his eyes. "Can you guys please not make bets about my personal life? Especially while I'm sitting right here?"

"But if we wait until you leave to do it, then we'll have to wait until later to find out who wins," Matt explained, looking proud of himself for figuring out what seemed like a perfectly logical explanation.

Casey ignored him. "So, spill. Do we know him? I'm assuming it's a him 'cause you still SUCK at talking to girls, by the way. Or did you meet somebody at the beach or something? No, wait, it's gotta be somebody here, that's totally not like you.."

"Yes, it's somebody from here," Chad sighed. 'They really do know me way too well,' he thought.

Casey eyed him suspiciously while Matt made an exaggerated gesture of looking around the dining hall. Chad looked over to where Adam and his friends were sitting, and she followed his gaze intently. He watched her putting two and two together in her head, and groaned when she slapped one hand over her mouth and squealed. She could be way too excitable for a water ninja.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

"Did I miss something?" Matt wondered. "He didn't say anything."

"Okay, 'dude,'" Casey replied sarcastically, "look over there." She nodded her head toward the table of laughing first year students. The air ninja had an empty bowl on his head, the earth ninja was pelting him with bits of burnt toast, and the water ninja was shaking his head even as he laughed with his friends.

"That kid from our element class, Adam." She looked over at Chad for confirmation, which she got from the somewhat annoyed look on his face. "Hah! I was right!"

"Dude, seriously? First years? They're like, twelve!" Matt commented, stabbing at his orange with a plastic knife.

"He's fifteen," Chad deadpanned, "but thanks for making me feel like a dirty old man anyway."

"No problem, man," came the cheerful reply.

"Just, keep this to yourselves, okay? Especially you," he leaned across the table and poked Matt in the chest. "Last thing that needs to happen is that his friends hear about it from the rumor mill."

Matt raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. "My lips are sealed, dude!"

Casey shook her head. "Hey, who am I gonna tell?"

"Good," Chad replied, somewhat satisfied. His friends might be kind of nuts, but at least they could be trusted. "I'm gonna get out of here. See you guys later."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, man," Matt joked.

Chad grinned. "There's stuff you won't do?"

--

Adam turned his attention away from Rocky with the bowl on his head and watched Chad get up and leave the dining hall, and noticed Chad's friends looking at him. Or leering at him. He fidgeted slightly and tried not to pay attention.

"So, I'm gonna be working with Aiden-sensei and some other guys today," Rocky continued to go on about his training. "We're going out to this ropes course and practice using our ninja powers to break falls."

"So, essentially... You're gonna jump out of trees all day?" Aisha pondered. "I guess we should have some bandages and aspirin for you when you come back?"

"Very funny; there's a net," Rocky remarked. "It's not like they want to kill us."

Adam looked back up to find Casey and Matt still looking at him as they talked. 'Okay, this is getting ridiculous.' He got up abruptly. "I'm gonna go."

"Where?" Aisha wanted to know. "Is your class doing optional drilling today?"

"Nah," Adam replied. "Just going to the park in Blue Bay. Spend some time away from school, you know?"

"Later, man," Rocky waved as he walked away. "So, what's up with him?"

Aisha glanced at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"I dunno. He's acting weird." Rocky thought for a moment. "You think I should skip drill and follow him?"

"Why in the world would you do that?"

"I dunno, weird stuff's happening lately?"

"Just go to your drill, Rocky," Aisha rolled her eyes. "Jump out of trees and swing around on ropes all day. It'll be good for you."

--

Adam got off the bus by the park's west entrance. It was a good enough trek from the Academy's remote location to anywhere the city transportation even serviced, much less to walk all the way out here, and he still wasn't very good at the skill they called 'streaking' - not that it was allowed just because one had no other transportation, but it wasn't like that stopped most of the students. The ones who could do it consistently enough to avoid civilians and not crash into things, anyway.

He looked at his watch. It was 12:15, he was actually fifteen minutes early, which was surprising since it took him all morning to get there - he'd left the school shortly after leaving his friends at breakfast! Chad had to run errands in town and they'd agreed to meet around 12:30, eat lunch, and do some rollerblading. It had taken him a half-hour of rooting through his stuff the previous night to find his skates, which it turned out Rocky had borrowed at some point without telling him - they were in one of his friend's bags stuffed under their bunk.

"Hey, you're here already," Chad greeted him as he walked up, carrying a gym bag and a couple plastic shopping bags. "Let's find someplace to eat, huh?"

A while later, they were settled at a picnic table, with Chinese take-out portioned onto paper plates and iced tea.

"Interesting choice for lunch," Adam commented.

"I figured everybody likes Chinese food," Chad explained. "And it's not like anyplace will deliver to the big waterfall in the woods." They both laughed.

"True." There was silence for a moment. "So, uh, I have to ask. Why were your friends staring at me after you left this morning?"

Chad cringed. "They're afflicted by an unfortunately common disorder known as 'being unable to mind their own business,'" he offered weakly. "I can't keep anything a secret from them - you know how Casey is in class? She's worse the rest of the time. And anything she knows, Matt knows, as long as he doesn't forget."

"They're dating, right?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, talking about getting married after graduation," Chad's expression told exactly what he thought of that particular idea. "I've never known two people with less in common but they've been together since before the Academy."

"Well.." Adam considered. "Just, please ask them to not be so weird?"

Chad raised an eyebrow. "That could be easier said than done." They laughed again. "I know what you mean, though," he continued, "and I'll yell at them later. I already told them not to gossip since your friends don't need to hear it."

The younger boy looked relieved. "Yeah. I mean, Aisha knows, of course. But still." He chewed on his lower lip nervously. "I don't really want a bunch of people talking about me."

"The rumor mill gets insane at school. Stay as far away as you can," Chad advised wryly. "Casey's trustworthy and Matt... Well, he's afraid of her. Don't worry about it."

--

Rocky perched precariously in a tree in the park. Aisha seemed content with not having any idea what was going on, but Adam was spending way too much time spaced out lately, and he wanted to figure it out. He wasn't having a lot of luck with the whole stealth thing, which made him a little paranoid - 'I'm a dude in black leather in a tree,' his brain kept telling him. 'Somebody is gonna look up eventually.'

At least the park wasn't crowded for a Sunday. It was still pretty early; maybe people were still in church, he thought. His mom would kill him if she knew he didn't bother to come into town on Sundays for mass. Some of his sisters would probably have something to say about it too. He looked around for people before concentrating long enough to jump to another tree in a flash of red light. The last thing he needed to do was have people see him ninja-streaking in a public park in broad daylight. If the sensei heard about that, they'd go nuts.

He pulled a compact pair of binoculars out of his uniform and looked through them. Adam was sitting at a picnic table, eating with Chad, from their residence hall. They were laughing about something, and Rocky absently wondered why he never learnt to read lips. 'That would be so useful for spying on people,' he thought.

He practically fell out of the tree when the older ninja leaned over and kissed his friend, and he was even more shocked when Adam not only reciprocated, but looked rather pleased with himself afterwards.

"Okay, I totally missed something," Rocky muttered to himself, still in shock. Suddenly, the ground shook, the tree wobbled, and he tumbled to the ground. As he gathered his senses, it came to his attention that the sky was growing dark, and purple lightning flashed once. 'That's almost as weird as what just happened,' he thought, getting up and shaking the dirt off his uniform. 'I'm getting the heck out of here!' He ran off, leaping into a streak of light again and disappearing.

--

Chad and Adam both looked up in surprise as the purple lightning crashed overhead.

"What in the -" Adam started, but Chad cut him off.

"We gotta get back to school," he said. "Purple lightning either means the California weather has gotten REALLY weird, or somebody's screwing with dark ninja powers."

"Which theory does that dark vortex in the sky over there support?" Adam pointed off to the east, over the mountains - the direction of the Academy.

"You know how to streak, right?" Chad asked, hurriedly gathering up their stuff.

"Uh..." Adam began. "I know how, but I'm not that good."

"Well, follow me and try to keep up, we gotta go. Now."

--

Next chapter brings action. It'll come eventually - Shane and Dustin won't get the hell out of my head, and I'm working on the PRSW22 with them now. Lovely. They also made me make them a fanvid on Youtube - check it out. My username's ryuuseicha, and I also did a NS team tribute and a horrible Cam/Tori video for humor value.


	10. When The Past Comes Back To Haunt You

**Notes** - I'm still writing this, I promise. :O I only took a couple days off of working on it.

**Warnings** - Slash, not mine, a little PG swearing and some fighting in this chapter.

**Chapter 10** - In Which The Past Comes Back To Haunt You

--

Rocky landed on the ground outside the waterfall and looked up. The sky directly above was a creepy shade of gray-black, almost like shadows swirling in the night, except it wasn't even mid-afternoon yet, and the sunlight was still visible off in any direction.

He brushed himself off, concentrated briefly, and stepped out above the water, walking on the air over to the waterfall - and managed to get thoroughly soaked. The portal was gone. 'This CAN'T be good,' he thought. 'They did not cover what to do in this situation.' He stuck his hand out to brush the falling water again. Still nothing.

"They must have sealed the portal," Chad shouted. He and Adam were standing by the lake, having just gotten back themselves. "Come on. I know another way in."

"There's another portal?" Adam asked, as Rocky made his way back over to land. 'I thought he was supposed to be doing some drill today?' he thought.

Chad chuckled dryly. "You could say that. Cam was playing around with the technology and managed to make his own. What do you think he does all day, just sit around this place?"

"The teachers know about this?" Rocky asked. "Heck, how do you know about it?" He was trying not to freak out. Whether he was freaking out because of what he'd seen in the park or because of what was happening now, he wasn't sure.

"Mason does. The others don't, and let's keep it that way. I know because I actually talk to the kid. Piece of advice, make friends with geniuses. Come on."

They followed. What else was there to do?

--

The hidden portal brought them out of a spot on the wall behind the teachers' quarters. It was way, way too quiet.

"Does it like something's wrong here to anyone else?" Adam asked warily, looking around. Everything had kind of a purple-ish haze to it, and the silence was practically deafening.

"Way too quiet," Chad agreed, as they rounded the corner and headed out into the empty courtyard. The fountain in the center was especially weird - it looked as though the water had frozen in mid-air.

Rocky pointed. "That's... uh... Creepy, to say the least?" He shifted nervously. "What do you guys think is going on here?"

"I read something in the library," Adam said slowly. "Some old text about the strange kinds of warps in time and space the dark ninja powers can cause..." He trailed off.

"You think this is some kind of a stasis field?" Chad asked.

"I... don't know. The weird color, the quiet?" Adam offered. "And while it would essentially pause time for everyone who was here when it was enacted... It might not necessarily affect us?"

"If they're using the forcefield as the boundary, that might be why. The portals act differently than if one were to actually physically cross through that space without the forcefield - they're not like a door, more like a magic hallway." Chad explained. " Which might be why whoever's doing this deactivated the main portal - they didn't want to be interrupted."

"You always were the smart one!" A deep voice, sounding as though it was being amplified somehow, echoed across the grounds, and a tall man in a completely black hooded ninja uniform, with no badges or identifying symbols, materialized in front of them. He leveled his right hand at his chest and threw it out in front of him, releasing a blast of energy that knocked Rocky, Adam, and Chad to the ground.

"Hey, man, I don't know who the hell you are," Rocky yelled, struggling to get back to his feet, "but you're gonna regret that."

"Ah, ah, ah," the ninja taunted, and called out, "Little brother!" Another black-clad figure materialized beside him - this one carrying Aisha's unconscious form. He inclined his head towards the trio, a smirk in his eyes, before he disappeared again.

"No!" Adam and Rocky screamed in unison, jumping up. "What do you want with her?" Rocky demanded.

"You may want to find him and find out," the ninja replied calmly, pulling off his hood. "My brother and I are just here to ... suppress any possible interruptions ... while my close friend finds what he came for."

"Kyle," Chad said, "Do you really think that hood fooled me for a second? What's with the theatrics?"

"You know, they really should go find their friend." Kyle ignored the questions, "Shawn really doesn't like any of you very much. I'm sure he wouldn't mind hurting her a little, even if it's not what we were 'ordered' to do."

"He's right. Being a sadistic little freak probably runs in the family." Chad scowled, nodding to Adam and Rocky. "Go. I'll take care of this." They glanced at each other briefly and obeyed, running off.

Kyle laughed harshly. "You think you can beat me without any of your friends to die getting in the way?"

"Yeah. I do." Chad dropped into a fighting stance. "What does your 'close friend' want here?"

"Have you ever heard of the Scroll of Time?" Kyle threw another blast of energy, which Chad dodged. "Apparently, a lot of people want to relive the past."

--

Meanwhile, Adam was having trouble keeping up as Rocky tore across the grounds. "Do you have any idea where you're going?" He shouted.

"There's a spot on the cliffs where some of the air ninjas go to meditate," Rocky yelled back. He stopped abruptly when they reached the edge of the forest and pointed up. "We should streak from here or getting up there will take too long."

Adam nodded. He was exhausted, but he had no intention of letting anyone hurt any of his friends. Following Rocky's lead, he jumped into the air in a flash of blue. A moment later, they both came to a stop up on the cliffs overlooking the school grounds.

"I didn't give you guys enough credit," Shawn greeted them. "I figured this would be at least the third or fourth place you thought of." Aisha laid still on the ground some distance away, and he glanced from the two boys in front of him, over to her, and back. "She's just affected by the stasis. For now."

"If you seriously think we're going to let you hurt her, or anybody," Adam yelled, "you must be even dumber than I thought."

"Yeah, yeah, you guys are practically the Wonder Twins," Shawn laughed.

"You're gonna think it's real funny when we kick your butt," Rocky warned. "Power of air!" He shouted, blasting the other boy with winds strong enough to knock him off his feet.

Shawn scrambled back up quickly, drawing the wooden sword from his side. "You're going to regret that."

--

Chad struggled to one knee, looking up at his opponent. 'I'm getting completely worked,' he thought desperately. 'This is NOT good.'

"Give up yet?" Kyle taunted him, when suddenly the purple tinge in the air disappeared with an audible pop. "What the - Lothor couldn't have released the stasis yet -" His surprised exclamation was cut off as yellow and blue streaks flew by, pummeling him and sending him flying.

Chad looked up in surprise as Matt and Casey landed next to him. "What the hell happened?" He demanded.

"Dude, I dunno," Matt scratched his head. "It was like time stopped or something." They all looked up as a flash of red light vanished in the sky. "I'm gonna guess whatever THAT was had something to do with it."

"Your buddy Lothor abandon you here, Kyle?" Chad yelled at the black-clad ninja, still laying in the dirt.

"Lothor? The evil ninja from space?" Matt looked confused. "Isn't he a myth?"

"Lothor is no myth, Matthew," Sensei Watanabe said calmly, materializing in front of the three students. "And his influence over those who are hungry for power is unmistakable." He raised his staff, sealing his former air ninja student in a barrier. "We will deal with him later. First we must find out what exactly caused the stasis, as well as what caused it to break."

"And find Adam and Rocky," Chad added. "Kyle's brother took their friend."

"Oh, I think the three of them can probably handle him, don't you?" the sensei replied with a knowing smile.

--

"Damn, but boys always gotta fight over everything," Aisha mumbled, regaining consciousness to the sight of Adam and Rocky engaged in combat with Shawn. She concentrated for a moment, dropping into the ground.

Shawn spun around, cursing under his breath. 'Something broke the time stasis,' he thought grimly. 'Crap.' That momentary distraction was enough for Adam to rush him, landing a series of rapid strikes to his upper body. Then, Aisha appeared out of the ground behind him.

"Peek-a-boo!" She intoned sarcastically, knocking him in the back of the head with a rather large rock. He fell face-first into the dirt.

"That was awesome, 'Sha," Rocky managed in between fits of laughter, high-fiving Adam as they both ran over to her.

"Well, he totally deserved it," she replied, grinning. "Just one thing - do you guys wanna fill me in on what the heck is going on?"

--

Next chapter might actually wrap this up? Oo; (Gotta explain what happened to Lothor's stasis field, what's gonna happen to Kyle and Shawn, and work out the results of Rocky getting in Adam's business... Might take two more chapters. xD)


	11. Geniuses and Fools

**Notes** - Almost done. I think the next chapter (12) will be the end. This one's probably the shortest chapter yet but I wanted to split it off from the end, so here goes.

**Warnings** - Slash, not mine, little bit of swearing. The usual. If you made it this far, this chapter won't kill you.

**Chapter 11** - In Which Rocky Makes A Fool Of Himself

--

Adam knelt in Sensei Watanabe's quarters with Chad and Rocky. After dealing with the events of the day, their head teacher wanted to figure out exactly what had happened, and since Adam kind of wanted to know the same thing, he didn't think they'd be any help.

"Sensei," Chad asked, "What's the Scroll of Time? Kyle said Lothor was looking for that."

"I am not surprised," he said. "The Scroll is an ancient artifact that holds great power and allows its user to travel backwards in time. One with the wrong intentions could easily cause great damage to the course of history."

"Why would he want to go back in time?" Rocky asked. "I mean, if he wants to mess stuff up, it's not like he didn't have the opportunity already!"

"I believe we all have things in our pasts we would change, given the chance," Sensei Watanabe replied vaguely. "Perhaps our enemy is no exception."

"So, that's what they wanted," Adam reasoned, "but what interrupted them? Shawn seemed pretty surprised when the stasis ended so abruptly."

"Uh..." A small voice came from the doorway. "I think I might know." Cam appeared, grinning sheepishly and holding some kind of electronic device. "This thing was in the control room for the forcefield and portal. I found it and shorted it out, and everything came back."

The head teacher raised an eyebrow at his son. "But, Cameron, how is it that you were unaffected by the attack?"

Cam shuffled his feet and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that, son?"

"I said, I wasn't on school grounds," he repeated, staring at his shoes. "I, uh... I've kind of been sneaking out for ages.. I programmed my own portal and nobody ever really missed me, so..." he trailed off.

"I see." There was a pause. "We will have to have a talk later about what exactly is acceptable use of the Academy's technology, in that case," his father replied evenly.

"Yes, father," Cam sighed, bowing respectfully. "I'll just, uh, be leaving now.." He backed out of the room, shutting the door again as he went.

"Sensei," Chad spoke up, "Cam's portal is the only reason we could get back in at all - I'm betting that machine is what the main one inoperable. I don't want to tell you how to raise your son or anything, but in light of that, maybe you shouldn't be too hard on him."

"I shall take that into consideration, Mr. Lee," the sensei replied seriously, "if you will please inform me of things such as secret portals into this Academy in the future."

Chad chuckled nervously. "Yes, sensei. Of course."

"In that case, you are all dismissed. I suggest you get some rest; as it has been a long day for everyone."

As they filed out, Adam stopped in the doorway and turned to address the head teacher again. "Sensei, may I ask a question?"

"You may."

"Uh, what's gonna happen to Shawn and his brother?" Adam wanted to know. "I mean, I know the laws say that use of the dark powers is punishable by banishment, but didn't they already DO that to Kyle once?"

"Indeed, banishment to the far reaches of space is the punishment for their crimes," Sensei Watanabe agreed. "Unfortunately, those who are consumed by evil often manage to find one another even then."

"So... You're just going to repeat the process until it takes?" Adam asked, confused. "No offense, sensei, but that doesn't make any sense."

"Measures will be taken to assure that they will remain imprisoned and that Lothor shall not find them," the teacher reassured. "I can do nothing more. There is no punishment that can change the choices others have willingly made for themselves."

Adam was still confused, but accepted the answer. "Thank you, sensei," he replied, bowing and taking his leave from the room.

--

"So, Rocky," Adam began, "I've been meaning to ask - what were you even doing off grounds?" He had to admit, he was curious.

"Yeah," Aisha chimed in, taking a bite of her dinner. "I thought you were supposed to be out in the trees with Aiden-sensei and everybody." She grinned knowingly, and Rocky narrowed his eyes at her.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Adam asked, puzzled at the short exchange between his friends.

"Uhh.." Rocky rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, trying to think of a way to stall.

"He followed you," Aisha explained, sticking her tongue out at the red-clad boy and ducking the thrown wadded-up napkin that followed.

Adam stared. "You did what?"

"I, uh... Yeah, okay, I followed you," Rocky admitted. "But only 'cause you've been acting so weird lately, okay?"

"I have not been acting weird!" Adam protested.

"So, making out with guys in public parks is normal behavior for you?" Rocky asked, maybe just a little too sarcastically. "How come I never noticed that before?"

"Do you maybe wanna keep it down?!" Aisha hissed. Meanwhile, Adam was completely speechless. Without a word, he got up and walked away from the table and out of the building.

"Shit," Rocky swore, bringing his fist down hard on the tabletop. "I did NOT mean that the way it sounded."

Aisha shook her head. "Good going, Rocko. Smooth, as always."

"You think I should go talk to him?" he asked.

"Only if you want him to kick your butt," she replied calmly, taking another bite of her dinner. "I told you to mind your own business. Now you can wait until he decides to talk to you again."

From the other side of the room, Chad and his friends watched the exchange between the younger ninjas.

"So, the airhead was spying on you guys?" Matt laughed after Chad's explanation. "Great, dude, you got yourself into some screwed up junior high love triangle."

Casey sighed. "You're a moron, you know that?"

"I'm gonna go try and clear this mess up," Chad decided. He got up, made his way over to the younger students' table, and sat down across from Rocky. "You know, Adam might not have seen you today, but I did."

Rocky stared. He knew he was pretty bad at being stealthy but he figured the other ninja would have called him out if he'd been seen, at least.

"You weren't that badly hidden," Chad continued, "but falling out of a tree is pretty obvious even if it is during some weird alien attack."

Aisha snickered behind her hands. Rocky had the good sense to look at least slightly embarrassed.

"Look, I'm only going to say this once: He loves you," the older ninja explained. "It's obvious when he talks about you. And if you feel the same way, get yourself together and tell him."

"He's right, Rocko," Aisha added softly. "And you should probably try not to be a jerk about it." She smirked.

Rocky was silent for a moment. "But.. Uh, aren't you guys.. Like.." He searched for a word that was appropriate and not stupid.

Chad rolled his eyes. "You're not listening. Sure, he's got a crush on me, I like him, whatever, but he'd try and move the Earth if you asked him to." He got up. "Look, I'm going to go find him so we can talk.. Apologizing for all this is still on you, though. And if you screw up and hurt him, I'm going to be pretty ticked off at you."

Rocky found himself nodding numbly, trying to process the information that was being given to him and for the most part, failing miserably. Important bits of his brain kept freezing up at the part where Adam was in love with him, and he couldn't even begin to fathom why the older water ninja was willing to help anyway.

--


	12. Happy Endings

**Notes** - omg whut its over lol!!1

**Warnings** - boys with other boys, and I'll return them to their real owners relatively unharmed after use. :D

**Chapter 12 **- In Which The Story Ends

--

Chad found Adam sitting against a tree by the lake, knees against his chest and his head resting on his folded arms. He sighed, beginning to rethink his decision not to smack that idiotic air ninja, and knelt next to the younger boy, placing a hand on his shoulder. Adam looked up and Chad could tell he'd been crying.

"Look, whatever that idiot said, I'm pretty sure he didn't mean it," Chad tried to comfort him.

Adam looked away, wiping his face. "He followed me today," he mumbled.

"I know. I noticed when he fell out of a tree right after that lightning strike," Chad explained, trying to keep the amused tone out of his voice. "For what it's worth, I probably shouldn't have counted on there being nobody watching when I kissed you in public, though, so maybe you should be at least a little mad at me too."

Adam shook his head slightly. "We were pretty far from school and I don't know anybody here."

"What exactly did he say, if you don't mind my asking?" Chad asked. The other boy had seemed apologetic, and air ninjas did have a way of saying things without realizing how they'd be taken - especially to water ninjas, who tended to read into things.

"Something like 'since when is making out with guys in parks normal for you' or whatever," Adam replied, intoning his friend's sarcasm into the paraphrased sentence.

'Yeah, that was definitely not well-phrased,' Chad thought. "Well, for what it's worth, I think you should talk to him. He was probably shocked and didn't think about what he was saying."

"That's nothing new," Adam grumbled under his breath.

Chad smiled slightly. "Talk to him," he repeated. "I'm probably massively overstepping my bounds here, and I apologize in advance, but it's obvious that you love him. He may be kind of an idiot, but I'm pretty sure he cares about you too. You two deserve each other."

Adam stared blankly. "And ... when did you figure all this out?" he asked slowly.

"It didn't take much," Chad replied, and paused. "And talking to your friends after you stormed out of the dining hall helped," he added, grinning sheepishly. "Although they didn't actually tell me anything."

"Wow, I guess it IS true that nobody in this school can mind their own business," Adam noted, recalling Chad's warnings to him about the gossip mill, an ironic smile on his face. The older ninja laughed.

"Now, who told you that?"

"Oh, just some old guy I know," Adam deadpanned.

Chad smirked, getting to his feet and offering the other boy a hand. "Ha ha. Come on, you're gonna go work stuff out with Rocky.. I have to go deal with Cam anyway. Sensei put me in charge of his punishment for the whole portal thing."

"I take it that's YOUR punishment for keeping it a secret," Adam observed wryly.

"I think so," Chad agreed. "Babysitting him while he cleans a bunch of ancient scrolls every night for the rest of the year is going to suck."

--

Adam found Rocky sitting off to one side of the rear courtyard, moping. As soon as he noticed Adam, he jumped to his feet, beginning to talk. "Look, I'm really sorry, and I'm a total idiot, and I didn't mean to get into your business, but I was worried about you -"

"Rocky. Shut up." Adam cut him off. He obeyed, closing his mouth. "You followed me because you were worried, and you reacted the way you did because you're jealous. Right?"

Rocky gaped at him. "I - no - I mean," he stuttered, trying to find something to say that wasn't stupid. He closed his eyes and took a breath. "Fine. Yeah, I was jealous, okay?" He paused. "I really don't like the idea of you kissing anybody."

Adam paused, reaching for his friend's hand. "How about if it's you?" He didn't have time to react before Rocky enveloped him in a tackle-hug that knocked them both to the ground.

--

_SIx months later ..._

Chad was elated. The year was over, tests were passed, missions were accomplished, and it was graduation. As Sensei Watanabe read Casey's name and she walked forward to take her diploma, Chad couldn't help noticing that she had polished her uniform to the point where the shining leather was blinding the younger students. He suppressed a chuckle. She got very obsessive-compulsive when she was nervous.

Next was Matt, and he was practically bouncing with energy, a grin the size of California on his face. He pumped a fist in the air after taking his diploma, drawing giggles from the ranks of students. The earth ninja had the sense to look at least a little apologetic when the head teacher shot him a disapproving look, but it didn't seem to damper his excitement.

"Chad Lee," the sensei read, and Chad walked forward, bowing as he took the scroll, and unable to keep the satisfaction from showing on his face. He took his position in line beside his friends, watching the other senior students graduate.

After the ceremony, he sat in the grass with Matt and Casey until they decided they were going into town to celebrate. Declining the offer to join them, he wandered back to the dormitory where the younger students were packing their things for the brief summer break that would allow them to go home to their families.

Chad glanced across the room. Adam and Rocky were sitting together on Adam's bottom bunk, the water ninja trying to read and his lover playing with his hair and generally being annoying. He couldn't help but laugh to himself. 'Those two really were meant for each other,' he thought. 'Oh well, there's other fish in the sea.'

"You guys done packing?" He asked, walking over to them, looking pointedly at Rocky's rather messy top bunk. He was still the 'house mom' until everybody went home, after all.

Adam laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, right. I packed yesterday, we're probably going to just burn all his stuff."

"Hey, I'm gonna pack later!" Rocky protested, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Adam.

"Yeah, you said that yesterday."

Chad shook his head and changed the topic. "So, what are you guys doing this summer?"

"Video games, dude," Rocky grinned. "The one thing this place doesn't have."

"We're going to this martial arts summer camp," Adam corrected. "And while they'll let you bring your Gameboy, I really doubt you're going to be playing it much." He grinned.

"Hey, they have a rec room with Nintendo and stuff," Rocky pouted. "And we're not gonna be gone all summer. That's only for six weeks, and there's eleven weeks until school again. I am so gonna spend the other..." He paused, thinking for a second. "Five weeks playing video games!"

"How about Aisha, is she joining you two miscreants at karate camp?" Chad asked. He'd gotten to be pretty good friends with the young earth ninja.

"Nah, 'Sha's parents said something about they want her to be at home, since we were all gone all year," Rocky complained. "I think they're nuts. She's gonna hate it."

"What are you going to do now that you're done here?" Adam asked.

"Well, I finished my high school diploma in the correspondence school, so I'm thinking about going to college.. There's a school in Mariner Bay with a great marine biology program."

"Sounds hard," Rocky observed. "I even hate regular biology."

"Well, my friends are going on to be an aspiring fashion designer and a permanently injured dirtbike racer, respectively," Chad replied, shaking his head as he thought about Casey and Matt's career choices. "Besides, there's great surfing up that way."

"I'm sure something great for you to do will come along eventually," Adam assured him. "Maybe even something that doesn't involve surfing," he joked.

"Yeah," Rocky chimed in. "Plus, with all the weird monster attacks and stuff in the news these days, you never know - you might have to bust out the ninja tricks and help save the world sometime!"

--

(Please don't kill me; there's at least one pun in here that I'm sure is so horrible someone will want to. xD)


End file.
